Not Your Average Fairy Tale (Story is on hiatus)
by werewolfbleu
Summary: This story is absurd. I'll try to explain it, but honestly, there is no logical explanation. Not even a scientific one. My name is Usagi, and I 'shrank' a Yautja. Now I'm stuck with the Tiny Terror dogging my footsteps, (Or at least, that is, when I can walk.) on a planet where the laws of physics and even reality don't always apply. Alice had it easy. Myst/Friendship/Poss. Romance
1. Chapter 1

**The Tiny Terror**

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorr-"

The Yautja roared and threw his spear at me. I yelped and dropped to the floor as it sailed over my head and heard the thump as it embedding into the wall. "I said I was sorry," I shrieked.

From above me came another angry roar. Given his new... um... compact size, it shouldn't have sounded so damn scary but the fury laced into it could've fillet skin clean off the muscle.

He stomped his feet, and the shards of glass littering the desk above my head rattled. But unexpectedly after a moment, the room fell quiet, and I thought maybe he'd calmed. Taking a deep breath, I slowly got to my knees, placed my hands on the edge of the desk and cautiously peeked over it. And to my shock, the Yautja was gone.

The sudden plink, plink, plink of rain droned in my ears, competing for volume with the wild thumping of my heart. I glanced around the room from my half covered position but saw no sign of him. The lab was in shambles, the main window overlooking the valley below the cliff face had shattered into a zillion pieces that crunched under foot. Phosphorescent blood streaked the floor mingling with the rain water coming in through the broken window, and dotted the desk, indicating the Yautja had been injured sometime before attacking me, because I sure as heck didn't inflict any damage on him- er, well, not physically anyway.

 _Why on earth did he attack me in the first place?_

I frowned, I knew very little about the Yautja, but I was fairly certain they didn't make a habit of attacking unarmed, underwhelmingly strong women with their backs turned. Or did they? Ah heck, what did I know? My knowledge on the _Predators_ went about as deep as a damp napkin. But something about this whole situation felt terribly wrong.

The second attack came from behind. While I frantically attempted to piece together the craziness of the last five minutes, the Yautja was preying upon my confusion and waiting until I fully came out from under the desk.

"Ell-osde!"

There was a high pitch buzzy whine, and then a burning pain lanced my side. Yelping, I went down on my knees and reflexively touched my side. It hurt, and my fingers came away bloody.

 _He... he shot me?!_

The Yautja snarled, "ooman!"

I flinched and crawled on hands and knees through the glass, under the desk, and out the other side. "I get that you're mad-" I frantically started to reason.

He roared and heavy _thwap_ resounded in the room as he leaped across the desk. I rolled onto my back, eyes widening as they met the black pits in his mask. The Yautja snarled and crouched, twin-serrated blades slid from a bracer on his forearm. I swallowed, the blades were only the length of my pinky finger, but I was pretty sure he was determined to skin me alive for what I'd done.

"-but if you kill me-"

I threw my arms up. He landed square on my chest, knocking the breath out of me. Grabbing a fistful of my hair, he yanked hard and pulled my head forward until I felt the tips of those nasty blades prick my throat.

"-I won't be able to reverse it!"

He snarled in my face, so close his dreads dragged across my chin. The menace he radiated made it hard to breathe. Or it could be the fact that he was standing on my chest. For only being a foot tall, the Yautja was surprisingly heavy.

"Na setg'ja te ik'da?!

"I don't know what you're saying- wah!"

He yanked again, the blades dangerously close to piercing my skin. The cannon mounted on his shoulder rig whined to life.

 _He is not a full-sized Yuatja! For the love of Pluto, he could fit in a handbag! You can do this! Just push him off and-_

"Na setg'ja te ik'da?!"

"Stop yelling at me!" Okay, just because I shrank him down to toy size didn't make him any less terrifying. My heart pounded, and I was too scared to move.

The Tiny Terror leaned closer, a deep reptilian sounding growl reverberating in his chest. The visors in his mask flashed red, and the inky blackness receded until I found myself staring into a pair of enraged poison green eyes... for all of two seconds, then we both heard a shriek, and I turned my head just in time to see Toki. His jaws wide and hissing furiously, he body slams the Tiny Terror, knocking him off of me.

The two went sprawling through glass and rain water. Toki's muscular tail whipped, readjusting and finding his balance a fraction of a second faster than the Yautja. Hissing, the small raptor stood tall, the thick purple scales covering his fifteen-inch frame raised like the fur of an angry cat, revealing bright yellow leathery skin beneath. With incredible speed, Toki charged the Yautja and sprang, claws extended. The Yautja snarled and braced for the attack with the duel blades raised.

"Toki!"

I've never seen a Yautja fight, well to be perfectly honest, I've never encountered a Yautja, but nevertheless, I knew Toki was in trouble. My little raptor might be a few inches taller, but the Yautja ritualistically hunted Xenomorphs for crying out loud!

 _Xenomorphs..._ I shivered at the memory. Toki's enraged squeak brought me out of my head, and I barely managed to scramble up and jump out of the way as the two went rolling. Snarls, shrieks, and the clatter of armor and flesh smacking the floor hastened my plight to do... something- anything! What was I supposed to do?!

"S-stop it!"

But my voice was too small. The two ignored me, continuing to fight and careen around the room at top speed. From my vantage point, it almost looked comical, like a kids' action figures come to life, but there really was nothing funny about this situation.

Toki jumped up onto the seat of the rolly chair beside the desk, only to shriek and leap away as the Yautja bounded after him. The Yautja gave chase with a snarl; the force of his jump propelled the chair into my legs. Startled, I yelped, lost my footing and fell on my butt. With an angry squeal, Toki hopped over my sprawled legs quickly followed by the Yautja.

Hissing, I brushed some loose pieces of glass from my palms and got up. I had to stop the Tiny Terror before he and Toki destroyed my home. If they broke something vital, like say a critical environmental system of the habitat, I would be so screwed.

 _But what can I do?_

A Yautja, even a pint-sized one, scared the living daylights out of me. I wasn't a fighter or particularly brave, but if I didn't do something then-

Toki squealed, and I watched in horror as his little body went flying into the wall. The Yautja leaped onto a discarded sample box, threw out his arms and roared. My heart lurched in my throat, and some part of my hindbrain woke up and screamed: "He's gonna kill, Toki!".

Without thinking, and without fully comprehending what I was doing or if it would even work, I shouted "freeze!"

And to my utter disbelief, he did. Literally. The Yautja was frozen mid-leap, his wrist blades raised and poised to strike. Toki got to his feet and shook himself, the scales along his spine flattening. He stepped close to the Yautja and sniffed the six inches of space between him and the floor, then Toki cocked his head and looked at me with a questioning chitter. When I didn't move, Toki faced me fully and shrieked. I flinched, the sound jarring me from the shocked stupor. I had only seconds before the effects wore off, maybe less. The forces of nature on this planet were a mystery and very fickle. What worked one way would not always work the same way the next time.

I scrambled over to the L-shaped desk -it was actually, two desks pushed together- and grabbed the high polished crystal terrarium sitting behind the holo screen and upended it, emptying the contents onto the floor.

Toki was poking the suspended Yautja with his narrow snout. The Tiny Terror growled, and Toki jumped back with a hiss. His scales flared to attention, rustling together rapidly to make an unmistakable warning rattle. Furious, the little raptor jumped up and snapped the air right in front of the disabled Yautja's face just as I caught him. On the Yautja's current size-scale, that had to be the equivalent of getting his face snapped at by a crocodile.

"Toki," I said, feeling frustrated, frazzled, and flummoxed. He wiggled in the crook of my arm, squeaking up a storm. The little raptor didn't weigh very much, only a few pounds, but I didn't want him to accidentally tag me with those sharp toe claws. So I set the squirming animal on the opposite side of me, and away from the Yautja.

Toki chuffed and stared up at me.

"Don't give me that look," I scolded.

He snorted and tried to walk around my bent knees, his head bobbing slightly.

"Stop it," I hissed, pushing him aside.

He squeaked and chittered at me, craning his long neck to try and see our unexpected intruder. The Yautja growled, and his burning eyes glared up at me. He couldn't move, yet, but he could still follow me with those frightening eyes. Rapidly, his chest rose and fell, and I exhaled in relief that I hadn't inhibited his ability to breathe.

 _Is it normal for a Yautja to be breathing so hard?_ I frowned. It seemed unusual, but with no real prior knowledge, I could only speculate. Glass scratched the floor as I shuffled closer. Water soaked into my pant legs. In some detached part of my mind, I felt the rain hitting my face, but I could not take my eyes off of the Yautja. I studied him for a second, awed by this creature. In all my years of studying natural predators, I've never- _What is that?_ I squinted, scooting closer. There was a foreign filmy substance spattered on the edge of the mask, right at the curve of his jaw. I only noticed the minuscule splotch because it was an odd luminance pink. _Is that what I think it-_ His arm twitched, and with a yelp, I slammed the terrarium over him. The bottom of the crystal smacked the top of his head, and I froze as he fell in a heap onto the floor. The growling stopped, and he didn't move.

"Crapadoodle, I killed him!" Frantic, my hands hovered over the terrarium, unsure what to do. The thought of accidentally killing him, even if he hadn't shown the same concern for me seven minutes ago, twisted my stomach into knots. But then, what if I opened it and he attacked me?

"Toki," I looked to my little friend for help. "What do I do? What do I do?!"

Toki cocked his head at the unmoving Yautja and then turned and slowly stalked towards the terrarium.

"No!" I slapped a hand on top of the crystal. "You can't eat him!"

He squeaked in protest.

"Because I said so!"

Toki tilted his head up at me, chittering in agitation.

"He wasn't trying to eat me, Toki, he-"

The Yautja suddenly snarled and slammed against the crystal barrier.

I squealed in surprise and threw my arms over the terrarium.

 _Not dead. Definitely,_ not _dead!_

"Ell-osde c'jit, pyode amedha!" He threw himself at the walls of the terrarium again and again. Rocking it back and forth, even with me leaning on it. "Tarei hsan! S'yuit-de pauk!"

"S-stop it!" I cried. I didn't want him to hurt himself. More importantly, I was afraid he'd break out and hurt me. I'd heard the stories. The Yautja lived for the hunt. And while I always wanted to study them, I would've never had the nerve to get this close. Not that they would willingly let anyone near them, anyway. If you ever found yourself face to face with a Yautja, it meant you were already dead, and your brain just hadn't caught up yet. Or at least that's what I summarized from all my collected data or lack thereof.

The Yautja roared and slammed the side of my makeshift trap again. My eyes squeezed shut, and I held on as if my life depended on it because it probably did. I heard the buzzy whine of his shoulder cannon and jerked my head up, staring down at him with wide pleading eyes. "No don't do that! This crystal comes from the moons of Eyra! It's impervious even to Xenomorph blood!"

He snarled at me, and I smacked the top of the terrarium. "It will ricochet!"

He cocked his head, most likely in confusion.

"Ricochet," I repeated, wondering if he'd comprehended the meaning.

The Yautja's gaze slowly slid over the crystal then snapped back to me when I started to fidget nervously.

"Y-you're not gonna discharge your weapon in there right?"

For a tense few seconds, his cold gaze held mine as if he were debating the odds.

"I don't want you to hurt yourself," I added hastily.

Those frigid green orbs narrowed behind the mask, his head tilting up and to the side, and I couldn't help but think I'd surprised him. Which, would imply that he'd understood me.

 _Is that even possible?_

I'd heard rumors of Yautja speaking broken English, but I assumed that's all they were. Rumors. Marines had a tendency to spin highly elaborate yarns.

Whether he'd grasped what I'd said or not, the Yautja's cannon folded down into his shoulder rig, and I sighed in relief. But the relief was short-lived. He immediately started barking at me again and slammed his shoulder so hard into the crystal that my grip slipped. The rim of the terrarium came up and off the floor-

"Quit it!"

-I threw my weight on top of the trap. Snarling, he rammed it again.

"I said I was sorry!" I sat my butt on the terrarium and leaned over until I was facing him again. My long hair, sweeping the floor as I spoke. "Now would you please calm-"

"Na setg'ja te ik'da?!"

I groaned, feeling dizzy from the blood rushing to my head. Or maybe it was because, tiny or not, I had a livid Yautja attempting to bore holes in my skull with his eyes. "I'm sorry, but I don't understand you. And if you don't stop yelling, you're going to run out of oxygen."

He glanced down at himself then back at me with a growl and thumped his chest with a fist.

"Na setg'ja te ik'da?" his voice was several octaves lower and calmer than before. And yet, he sounded far scarier when he wasn't yelling at me and slashing at me with his wrist blades.

I swallowed hard, it was obvious what he wanted to know, but I had no answer. Because I had no idea how I'd done it or how to reverse it. The rules of nature on this planet were nothing like Earth's, or at least not Earth as we know it now. In a sense, this planet was chaos theory, personified. Not the perfect explanative, but my only other working theory was based on the old fables my father used to tell me about the Black Forest of Germany and the Faery Realm. Neither of which I could accept. But strangely enough, over time I've learned how to interact with the unseen forces, however, I sure as heck had no control over them. The last time I _froze_ something in place, it literally crystallized into a solid block of ice. But I never thought it would be possible to _shrink_ something. Much less a biological something!

Explaining the situation would only help if he understood me, but even then, I'm not sure I could explain it well enough. Even after living on this mysterious planet for what counted as an Earth decade, I barely grasped the complexity of this world myself.

 _But even if I could reverse it..._ I stared at the Yautja but was mindful not to meet his eyes. Everything had happened so fast earlier, that I only had an impression of his true size. Eight and a half, maybe nine feet tall, weighing somewhere around 250 kilos most of which was pure muscle from what I could observe.

"Wow," I breathed, sliding off the terrarium. I winced at the pain in my side but couldn't be bothered with it as I laid my belly on the cool, wet floor to get a better look. "You're beautiful."

The Yautja's body tensed, something I registered in the back of my mind but barely noticed. Everything about him was engineered to make him a hunter, a predator. With a unique greyscale marbling to his skin, he could easily blend into many surroundings and disappear entirely in the dark. Angry storm clouds had this coloring, and there was a distinct almost black panther patterning of spots running on the outside of his arms and legs, becoming clustered at his shoulders and down his spine. In the dim light, the spots appeared black, but I was pretty sure they were a deep midnight blue.

Fascinated by this prime specimen of natural selection, I forgot about caution. I forgot to be afraid and scooted closer, resting my chin on my forearms.

My eyes flicked to the mask covering his face, and I wondered what was beneath it. Wondered if he'd take it off-

 _He's bleeding._

"You're hurt!"

I'd seen the blood on the desk earlier but had forgotten about it. Abrasions streaked the left side of his body, the flesh singed and smeared with the phosphorescent bright blood. The wound patterns were familiar; I'd suffered the same injuries when my ship crash landed here.

"Stay there, I'll-" Worried, I jumped up only to immediately crumpled back to the floor as my left leg went dead. "Ow," I moaned and lifted my pant leg and the dark burgundy EM6 skin suit beneath. "For Pluto's sake... Not again!" I slapped the milky white synthetic flesh of the prosthetic. The membrane acted as skin, keeping all the fluids and so forth in, and protecting the internal mechanisms from the outside environment. The model was outdated by at least three decades and has twice as many glitches. Somedays neither of my legs wanted to work, which wasn't really a problem when the biggest threat to me on this planet has been Toki. Or at least he was up until a Yautja crashed through my window.

"Toki," I glanced at my little friend. With a chitter, he hopped up on my knee and stared up at me expectantly. Toki has two sets of sunfire eyes. Each pair is clustered close together, set high on the head and slightly vertical to his snout like a lizard's, and separated by a V-shaped crest sloping midway down his elongated skull. He cocked his head, and the crescent shaped pupils retracted in the light as they focused on me. "Fetch."

His head made several sharp bird-like jerks as he looked around the room and when he found what he was looking for he hopped down with another excited chitter and scampered off.

"Is it bad," I asked, giving the Yautja my attention again. I found him staring at me in the most peculiar way but figured he simply didn't understand what I was saying.

I pointed to the wound on his forearm, "Is it bad?"

He glanced at his arm then up at me, his eyes narrowing as if he didn't know what to make of me.

Unnerved by his intense scrutiny, I ducked my gaze and turned my attention to the stingy pain in my side. There was a palm-sized singed hole in the fabric of my shirt, above the hip. Sticky with blood and partially soaked in rainwater, I hissed as I peeled it off my skin and lifted the corner for a better look. He'd shot me all right, but luckily it only grazed me. The EM6 skin suit beneath my clothes had absorbed the worst of the heat and the impact, but it still left a pretty severe flesh wound. Like the Yautja, his weapon was significantly smaller. Which meant the weapons power, velocity, and impact were also considerably reduced. So I wasn't so much lucky, as the physics had swung in my favor.

Toki's claws clicked and scratched the ground, the little raptor snorted and growled around a mouthful of the thick leather strap that I'd tied to a walking staff. For only being a few pounds himself, it always surprised me how strong this little animal was. The staff, itself wasn't all that heavy, but it was substantially bigger than him.

"Thanks, Toki," I patted his head, and he preened at being praised.

"Okay," I dragged myself off the floor with the aid of the staff. I pointed at the Yautja, "You stay there." His head tilted up sharply at the directive. The words probably meant nothing to him, but it was obvious he at least comprehended the tone. He chuffed at me. Toki hissed and jabbed the barrier with his snout. "Toki," I warned. "Don't eat him."

I hobbled away, in search of a med kit, my left leg stiff and utterly useless. See here's the problem when I get lost inside my head. I got so wrapped up in studying the Yautja, that I'd forgotten what he was. I'd forgotten to give the predator the respect he is owed. And I forgot to stack something heavy on top of the terrarium. Because even though it was incredibly durable, it was also extremely light.

The clap of the crystal hitting the metal floor shot a painful wave of gooseflesh up my spine and into my scalp. I froze. My heart pounded so hard I could taste it in my throat. Toki shrieked.

No matter how small, you never turn your back on a predator...

* * *

 **A/N: Hi, everyone! Hope you enjoyed the first installment of Not Your Average Fairytale. Yes, the circumstances surrounding this story are highly bizarre, but that's the fun and beauty of FanFiction. ;) Future updates and news on this story and others (Including: Can I Keep Him) can be found on my profile page. Please forgive the grammatical errors for it is my weakness, but I am working on it. Oh, and before I forget... Mwahahahaha- cliff hanger! ;D**

 ***Special shout out to my friend Luna Silvereyes! Thanks for pushing me to continue doing what I love to do!**

 **Yautja Translations:**

 **"Ell-sode": You**

 **"Na setg'ja te ik'da": (All of the words in this sentence are not canon. I couldn't find the words I needed so I used pieces of the Yautja dialect.) Trans: "What evil is this?!"**

 **"Tarei hsan! S'yuit-de pauk!" Trans: Unworthy! Cowardly fuck!"**

 **"Ell-osde c'jit, pyode amedha!" Trans: "Damn you, soft meat!"**


	2. Chapter 2

**Paradox in the Behavior**

 _Stupid, stupid, stupid! Never turn your back on a predator, Usagi! Papa would be very displeased!_

With my left leg malfunctioning, swiftly turning was kind of a problem. So was running. I bit my lip, and with a grunt of effort, I managed to about-face without tripping over my dead prosthetic or the staff and spotted the upturned terrarium but no Yautja.

 _Oh... crapadoodle! Where? Where is he?!_

Panicked, my wide eyes darted around the room. Seeing nothing but the slashing rain coming through the broken window, and Toki- Toki! The little raptor jumped on top of the terrarium and hissed. Growling he lifted his snout and began sniffing, head jerking sharply like a bird's. He shrieked and darted forward, leaping onto the desk. Hissing, Toki snapped his jaws at the air in front of him, then shook his head, snorting plaintively. With his head lowered and scales flared to attention, he stalked forward and like before he snapped at the air.

It took me a moment to see the weird hazy distortion in front of Toki. Like a strange humanoid shaped bubble, and after a brief moment of wondering if I'd lost my mind, I realized, I knew exactly, what it was.

 _Stars, papi... he's using an active camouflage._

The realization of the cloak jarred a memory loose of a conversation I had with a Marine back in 2186.

 _"... those bastards are stealth hunters. The cloak is a damn fine piece of camouflage tech but it ain't perfect... bends light... surface visible behind the Predator... effect... contact... water..."_

Our conversation only lasted a few minutes before the Marine realized I had zero interest in him and only in what he could tell me of the Yautja. He didn't want to waste his planet-side leave on regaling a woman in his _heroic_ tales if it didn't lead to coitus. But that conversation had been over fourteen years ago, and I couldn't remember the significance of it or why I would recall it now.

My papa, my _father,_ whom I still referred to fondly as papi, was a dedicated note taker. His passion for studying natural predators was boundless. He would first read any literature (if any) on the particular animal of study then he'd interview anyone who might've had contact with the animals. Most of what he learned was little more than rumor', but he always wrote everything down. That way he could prove a fictitious view on a particular predator wrong, destroy fantasy behavior that doesn't exist, and most importantly to educate.

Even the most exaggerated and embellished stories tend to hold grains of truth, and now I desperately wanted to remember ever word. I should've paid closer attention, but once I perceived what the Marine had truly been after I didn't commit it to memory. I am much more vigilant now than I was then but at this moment it is a moot point.

Toki shrieked and leaped with hind legs up and claws extended. I could no longer see the optical illusion of the Yautja's cloak, but I heard him snarl at the same instant Toki squealed and suddenly changed direction mid-air, flying back in the opposite direction. Toki landed on his side, hissing, his tail lashing angrily and striking the desk with dull thwap, thwap, thwap sounds. The Yautja snarled again, his cloak wavering briefly, making him visible for a few precious seconds. He had Toki pinned.

"Toki!" Afraid for my little friend, I rushed forward completely forgetting about my dead leg and fell into the desk, sending it and all of us toppling over. I tried to grab Toki and the Yautja during the fall, afraid for them, but the edge of the desk dug into my ribs, and I lost my breath, and everything spun crazily. The floor rushed up. There was a loud crack. A sudden and intense burst of pain in my temple then nothing but a strange coolness seeping into my clothes and the graying of my vision... bright blue arcs and a static crackle... I blinked trying to clear the blurriness. A dark shape took form in front of me, and I was brought back to that conversation.

 _"... the cloak shorts when it comes into contact with water... but the most dangerous aspect of these bastards is their unflinching resolve. To prevent their technology, or themselves from being captured the fucking cowards will commit ritualistic suicide by lighting themselves and everything else up, like the goddamn 4th of July!"_

The last fuzzy image I saw was the shadowed, grainy outline of the Yautja moving closer and faintly I heard unusual resonant clicking.

 _Huh, I was right... his leopard spots are midnight blue..._

...

Rain fell on me, the constant gentle taps on my face roused me from unconsciousness. I groaned. The pain in my temples felt like someone had taken a can opener to my skull. A familiar weight shifted on my shoulder, hopping in an agitated manner, growling, and keening at the same time.

"Toki?" my voice was nothing but a ragged exhalation.

Toki hopped closer to my neck and nuzzled my cheek, keening softly. But then abruptly he tensed, his toe claws digging into my skin. With a nimble hop, he faced the other direction and furiously squeaked at something. The sharp sound drove needle-like pain behind my eyes further into my brain.

I sucked in a ragged breath only to sputter and cough in surprise when I got a mouth full of rainwater. It took me a second to realize I was lying on my stomach in a puddle and only half a second more to remember why that was.

 _The window... stars, papi, the Yautja... where..._

My eyelids were heavier than sandbags, but I managed to crack them open. I instantly took notice of the dimness of the room and an obnoxious flashing yellow light that hit my eyes every few seconds as it rotated.

Toki's snorty breathing reminded me of a horse's. I could feel the readiness in his body, the rigid set of his tail, the tall and aggressive posture as he continued to make loud vocalizations. It was guarding behavior, which meant something threatening was close by and that something could only be the Yautja.

Groaning, I slid my arm towards me and braced my palm and elbow against the floor and slowly pushed myself up enough so that my face wasn't in the water. People have drowned in less than two inches of water, and I didn't want to become a statistic.

 _Ah, yes, but don't forget, a statistic isn't a statistic without another person to observe the phenomenon._ _If a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound? Doesn't matter if there's no one there to hear it._

"Umm, h-hello?" I whispered, wiping the grit and rainwater from my eyes. "I know you're still here..."

Even without Toki's behavior alerting me to the Yautja's presence, it wouldn't have made much sense for him to leave. Not if he thought I was responsible for what had been done to him (I was.), and certainly not if he thought I could reverse it (Debatable.). And more importantly, I wasn't dead. Given their secretive nature, it's highly unlikely he would leave me alive. The boorish Marine I spoke with had called the Yautja's desperate actions _cowardly,_ but I found their reasoning to be quite sound. Protecting one's people from exposure isn't cowardice, it was honorable. In fact, Marines, are disciplined in the same manner. Protect everyone else before yourself.

 _Don't get ahead of the science, Usagi. There isn't enough data on the Yautja social structure to draw that kind of conclusion. Perhaps the real reason is the simplest one. The Yautja just didn't want to be captured. And you have to take into account that these hunters are solitary-_

The vision in my right eye suddenly grew cloudy, and it closed on reflex. I winced at the very uncomfortable feeling of something foreign in my eye and rubbed it with my palm. I blinked, my eye filling with tears to combat the strange unpleasantness. And when I pulled my hand away there were minute traces of blood on my palm.

I tentatively touched my brow, and it too was tacky with blood. I felt a little further up and hissed when my fingers came into contact with what was undoubtedly a laceration and a knot the size of Pluto.

Twisting my upper body, I craned my neck awkwardly and spied the upturned terrarium laying just behind me.

"Well that explains-"

Toki squawked in alarm. The sharp and unexpected sound was so startling that I flinched and my arm slipped forward in the water, and I fell back into the puddle. Heart racing, I lifted my head, spat water from my mouth and instantly froze. The Yautja was staring right at me.

Rain fell through the broken window in sheets now. Drenching everything within a five-foot radius, including the Yautja, and the distance between us was half that. Tiny electrical discharges crawled over the mesh of his armor; the rainwater must've disrupted the current, short-circuiting the active camouflage.

He could've easily avoided the water. So why hadn't he?

The answer was rather obvious, and it sent my already erratic heartbeat soaring into the stratosphere.

Whatever was going to happen was going to happen right now. He was done chasing me. Even at just over a foot tall he wasn't afraid of anything, and he wanted me to see that. Size may make a predator appear more intimidating, but some of the most deadly predators I've ever studied were less than a foot tall. And I had a distinct impression that if I ran, I would die.

"I-I see the toxin must've worn off," I said calmly. Using the same soothing tones an adult utilizes to ease a frightened child or a fussy infant. I felt a little foolish talking to a being that is known for hunting humans for sport in this manner, but it has proven to work on other predators such as wolves and lions. Sometimes.

The Yautja cocked his head, but I wasn't sure if it was because of what I said or if my soft voice confused him. Maybe both. Either way, now that he appeared calm, I had to try and reason with him. The Yautja were a sentient species... a species whose entire existence revolves around the hunt.

 _You don't know that for sure, Usagi. That data is based solely off of a few rare encounters where the human(s) actually survived. Then again, you've been trapped here for a decade so what the frick do you know?!_

Growing up with an ethologist for a papa, who specialized in predator behavior, I've learned to evaluate most predators in an instant. But the Yautja was proving to be particularly hard to read. Trying to make myself look bigger and intimidate the Yautja like I would a lion, would probably have the opposite effect and provoke him. In fact, I couldn't think of one previous thing I'd learned from my papa that would help me in this case. And I realized it was because this was a sentient being. Something I haven't dealt with beyond human predators, which made the Yautja dangerously unpredictable.

The Yautja stared at me, unblinking. It was unnerving. While one part of my brain demanded that I flee, the other warned me vehemently that doing so would trigger the predator's chase instinct. However, the last thing you want to do when you catch the eye of a predator is freeze because only prey animals freeze. But those poison green orbs were paralyzing, and I just couldn't move.

Toki continued to squeak and hop back and forth on my shoulder in agitation. Daring, the hunter, to come closer.

The Yautja made a clicking noise, his gaze never leaving mine as he lifted his arm and tapped something on his bracer. It beeped a couple of times, and I absently noted that the bracer was, in fact, a computer of some kind. Before I could even speculate what those beeps meant, the Yautja suddenly tossed something straight up at the ceiling. Instinctually, my eyes wanted to follow the movement, to see what he'd thrown except I could not look away because without warning the Yautja split double! Then triple! I blinked, shook my head, thinking the rapid rotation of the yellow warning light was playing tricks on my eyes. Or that maybe the fall broke my brain! But no! There were really three of them!

 _T-three... Three Yautja... stars, has this world's reality fractured again?_

Toki's claws dug into my shoulder as he leaned forward and let out a furious squeak.

 _Oh, this is so bad..._

* * *

 **A/N: Oh, gods, how I missed torturing all you lovely readers with cliffhangers! ;D Thanks for hitting those favs and follow buttons! Btw, I am constantly updating my profile page with future updates on this story and others. So you can always check and see when I plan to add a chapter.**

 **KittyKatt25: More will be revealed about Usagi with each update ;) So glad you enjoyed it! Thanx!**

 **butters101: Lol, I laugh out loud as I write this story. It started with a ridiculous daydream then I thought 'Why not?' and decided to share the craziness XD If you cracked a smile then I've done my job right. Thanx for the love XD**

 **crocfarmer: Hello, my friend! XD I'm thrilled you're reading and enjoying this new bizarre story of mine! Thanx :)**

 **Puffgirl1952 the 2nd: Lol, it was an interesting and ridiculous daydream, to begin with. Hope it makes you smile :) Thanx for the review!**

 **angel897: Hi, angel! Glad you found this one interesting too XD**

 **Luna Silvereyes: Hello, my friend! Thanks again for pushing me to keep writing! I'm so happy you're enjoying the Tiny Terror! Thank you so much for the compliments and the love! :D**

 **KTCameleon: Ah, thanks! That makes me feel really good about this story! :)**

 **Haylez93: Lol, aaaah, thank you! I hope you enjoyed the update! I'm so glad you enjoyed this newest crazy story of mine XD**

 **xxKhaleesixx: Lol, thanks! Hope you enjoyed the update ;) And thanx for the review XD**

 **K Riley: You're awesome too! Thanx for the love! XD**

 **Almadynis Rayne: You're welcome! I laughed out loud while I wrote it too! What started out as a ridiculous daydream has turned into an amusing story XD**

 **crystalga: Ah, thank you! Glad to be back! You've definitely waited patiently ;)**

 **CieloDistante: Hello, my friend! I find a mini Yautja to be slightly more terrifying than a normal size one XD Everything will become clear as the story progresses and you read on ;) There is much more mayhem to be had with the Tiny Terror. Btw everything is fine. Thank you for asking :) I just got a bit burnt out trying to crank out a chapter a week. Updates will be slower but I think the quality of my work will improve because I will be giving each chapter more care. I do plan on continuing Can I Keep Him but I need to break away from it for awhile. ;) But I'm so happy you enjoyed my new crazy story XD**


	3. Chapter 3

**There Is a Voice That Doesn't Use Words. Listen. -Rumi**

The two holographic clones were nearly perfect, only the rain briefly disrupting the light particles gave them away. They were real. Or at least the coherent light they consisted of was real, which meant, the flow of reality had not been disturbed.

Gooseflesh prickled painfully up my arms and into my scalp. For a tense moment, I marveled at those clones, even the distinct and complex overlapping panther-esque patterning was precise. But the clones were incorporeal. No mass. And their manifestation confused me.

 _So what is their pur-_

Before the thought fully formed, the Yautja, the corporeal one, must've given a silent command because without warning the two clones burst into movement. Like a startled horse, I reared up in surprise and Toki squawked at the sudden jarring motion, his toe claws digging into my shoulder. My back hit the wall, and I realized with crippling fear that I couldn't run or hide. I jerked my right knee up into my chest and held it as if I could hide behind it. Clutching it so tightly, it threatened to bruise my sternum. My long black tresses fell forward, and I envisioned them as a shield.

The Yautja moved with blinding speed, zigzagging and leaping over my sprawled dead leg. I tried to focus, tried to figure out which was the real one but their fleet-footedness combined with their distinct panther spots made it impossible. It was confusing and disorienting, and it dawned on me that this was intentional.

 _It's a distraction!_

Eyes wide, I ignored the flurry of movement on the outer rim of my sight and stared straight down and found the Yautja, the corporeal one, staring back at me. He hadn't moved at all, only the clones had, and their purpose became crystal clear.

Toki hissed, his scales rattling in warning as one of the Yautja clones reached my shoulder. With a guttural snarl, Toki snapped at the clone, and the clone easily dodged, leaping onto the forearm I had wrapped around my leg. Toki shrieked and followed suit.

"No, wait! Toki!" I pleaded. But the little raptor was preoccupied, the second clone flanked the first, and they were quickly drawing him away. Keeping him distracted the way they were meant too.

"Toki..." The weight of the Yautja's gaze was staggering, sending a tiny wave of cold dread up my spine. With a shiver, I slowly turned my head and found he had still yet to move. His green eyes were no longer visible through the darkened visors in the mask, but I could feel their intense scrutiny as if it were a tangible thing.

The rotating yellow warning light, the drum of the rain, and Toki's furious squeaking all fell away into the background. I could only hear the rampant pounding of my heart and feel a burning pain in my chest from holding my breath. If his presence was this commanding at only a foot tall, then I shuddered to think of its crushing immensity when he's full-scale.

Abruptly, the Predator started forward, his pace slow and predacious, a calculative hunter.

My spine pressed firmly into the wall, and I watched his approach with a sort of detached, analytical breakdown. Terrified, yet completely fascinated at the same time.

 _"-and that's how you get eaten!"_ I could hear my older brother, Daiki, yelling at me. My meekness always brought out the worst in both my brothers and my mother. Daiki's voice filled my head, _"Get off your ass nitwit and fight! I can't do it for you this time!"_

I flinched. Even my own manifestation of my brother's voice was harsh. Daiki was the kind of man who thought problems were best solved with violence and intimidation. The complete opposite of Takahiro, the eldest of my two brothers.

The Yautja kept coming, stepping into the pool of water that had collected around me. I never looked away from him, but my fingers slowly inched forward, searching for a means of defense. My thumb brushed a piece of glass, and it made a hollow _scritch_ against the metal floor as I fumbled to grab it.

Alert, the Yautja paused in his stride, his head tilted towards the sound, and I could clearly hear the strange clicking noise I'd heard before coming from behind his mask. Some animals make a chattering noise with their teeth to express excitement or joy, but this had been sharp and deliberate. A warning. Like the way a dog might click his teeth before he bites you.

 _"Science is a tool my little liebchen, and a tool is only useful if we understand it. So, say you're studying a new living organism, you can expect to see overlap in behavior but do not assume that that overlap defines this new organism's psychology. Think of behavioral science as an umbrella, when it opens you automatically assume that its cloth canopy will protect you from the rain. Now, look up. The canopy is made of paper which means nature is about to rain all over your assumption and thoroughly drench you. If you find yourself in a situation where you question the tools that you carry then be mindful of your instincts. It is man's most innate tool, and we've been honing it for millions of years."_

My papa was right. Correlation is not causation. I had a strong understanding of predators, but there was barely any data on the Yautja. And the Yautja is an entirely different kind of predator. If the Yautja wanted to kill me, he could've easily done so already. He held no weapon in hand, and even though his pace was determined, it was also slow enough for me to follow. Nor could it be described as stalking behavior because aside from the dizzying tension in the room, his spine was taut and his arms were loose at his sides.

From this alone, I could determine the ill effects of the _crown lily_ pollen I'd spotted on his mask early played a key role in the events that followed. Because the Yautja standing in front of me now was phlegmatic and nothing like the raging animal that broke through the window mere minutes ago. But I wasn't about to fool myself into thinking that just because he was calm, he was any less dangerous or even reasonable.

Trusting my instincts was more difficult to do than I thought. The power he exuded had me ducking my eyes. A very animal response. Humans often put themselves above animals, forgetting that we, ourselves are animals and no amount of intelligence or the freedom to deny our instincts will change that. And the moment you find yourself alone with an undeniable stronger predator, then you'll find that depending on those animal instincts may be all that stands between you and the afterlife.

Swallowing hard, I let go of the shard of glass and slowly lifted my hand from the water and purposefully laid it on my thigh.

He snorted dismissively, and in a single leap, the Yautja bounded up and onto my bent knee. His sudden nearness startled me so bad I smacked the back of my head against the wall. And the spikes of pain behind my eyes flared with a vengeance. If I survived this experience I was going to be nothing but a massive bruise.

The Yautja made a snorty chuffing sound as if I'd amused him in some way. I groaned plaintively but quelled the urge to rub the back of my head and make any more unnecessary movements.

We stared at one another... er, well, he scrutinized, and I fiercely averted my eyes. The last thing I wanted to do was accidentally challenge him. But like any scientist, I couldn't curb my curiosity, and with him standing so close, the compulsion to explore won out over the fear.

If he was going to kill me, then I wanted to get a good look at him. To study this marvelous creature even if it only lasted a single moment. We may only be aware of two thousand bits of information, but in a single moment, the brain processes four hundred billion bits of information. That is a huge data dump. The brain is truly an enigmatic and amazingly complex organ.

The thick black tubular tendrils or "dreads" as I've heard Marines refer to them, grew out around the bony frill of his skull. I speculated the tubules were what constituted for hair and the slight greying of the tendrils closest to the skull only supported the idea.

 _An age marker, perhaps?_

Metal bands and bits of bone decorated the tendrils. A common tribal practice to symbolize status, rank, strength, and undoubtedly they were also trophies. But again with no real data on the Yautja social structure, other than a single eyewitness nearly two hundred years ago stating the Yautja take adolescent males on their first hunt or chivas, it was only speculation.

If I formed a theory based solely on eyewitness testimonies of previous attacks and compared those Yautja to this one, I'd have to say the previous attacks were done by younger, perhaps even cocksure Yautja. Now, assuming my theory is correct, and the rings in his tendrils symbolized rank, and I coupled that with his commanding presence and impassive disposition then it stands to reason that this particular individual is much older. All of which I learned in a single moment before our brief respite ended.

"CHaaange... baaaacK..."

His voice was deep and rumbly the faint and distant brewing of an oncoming thunderstorm. My eyes widened, and my heart threw itself against the walls of my chest so hard the Yautja cocked his head at the frantic sound.

 _Stars... he can... the rumors are true..._

I swallowed hard, he could speak English. Humans barely knew anything about the Yautja, but for him to speak any human language at all would mean he'd spent a significant amount of time studying us. _Hunting_ , us.

"I... I-I, um, I," my breathing was erratic, and I swallowed convulsively, trying to force my heart back down into my chest cavity where it belonged. "I can't."

Wrong answer. A furious snarl erupted from the Yautja, his stance transitioning from guarded curiosity to an open threat. With legs apart, knees slightly bent, and his back arched, the Yautja leaned forward and growled. To hear and even feel the vibrations of that reptilian sound disturbed me on a primal level, and I began to shake. I suddenly became all too aware of my bladder which was uncomfortably full and tears stinging the back of my eyes.

The Yautja leaned closer, the growl deepening. Our faces were only inches apart when the low ominous rumble abruptly stopped. The Yautja tilted his head up, his spine straightening as if he were pulling himself away. He made an almost inaudible huffing noise, and I got the impression he was scenting the air. He moved strangely now, almost cautiously, like he'd discovered a curious object, but didn't know what to make of it. The sudden change in his behavior confused me, and I watched and waited with bated breath.

The Yautja lifted his hand and reached out. I shrank back reflexively. The black talons that tipped his fingers nearly brushed the curtain of my long black hair when a spark of silvery-purple energy stopped him cold. Stopped me cold. I stared in disbelief.

 _A barrier?!_

I'd been envisioning my hair as a shield, and one had manifested itself.

 _Stars, how does this keep happening?!_

I understood the _why_... kind of, but even that was pure conjecture. Unintentionally, I had tapped into this planet's mysterious well of power. But the _how,_ the mechanics behind the manifestation I still had no explanation for other than it seemed to react, upon my reactions. Upon my _will_.

 _Ridiculous!_ _There is no logical explanation behind_ willing _something into existence!_

But there it was, a barrier.

Flexing his fingers, the Yautja reached out and touched the barrier again. It rippled outward, becoming slightly more visible and sent silvery-purple waves gently sweeping around my head. The Yautja's fingers tested those waves, and the barrier's energy crashed over his forearm like a surf breaking against a cliff. He could resist the power of the current, but the impregnable shield could not be penetrated.

Slowly, the Yautja pulled his hand back. He stared down at it for a long moment before fisting it and with a soft disgruntled snarl lifted his head and found my eyes behind the veil of hair. The blackness of the visors receded, and his poison green orbs narrowed in consideration, staring with a new found appreciation... or maybe he was simply just annoyed that I'd thwarted his advance.

Whatever he'd been thinking, it didn't matter because his body language told me all I needed to know. He was calm. Too calm.

 _"... the most dangerous aspect of these bastards is their unflinching resolve. To prevent their technology, or themselves from being captured the fucking cowards will commit ritualistic suicide..."_

"Wait! Wait! G-give me more time!"

The Yautja jerked his head away with a chuff, held up his arm, and started inputting commands into the wrist-comp.

 _Is he seriously going to blow us up?!_

The computers soft beeps were nerve-wracking. Each one, a harbinger of death. I couldn't take it.

"Please," I cried out and shot forward the shield vanishing. The Yautja snarled at the sudden movement, but he could've very easily dodged long before my hair draped around him and definitely before my nose accidentally bumped his chest. Growling in annoyance, the tense Yautja leaned away from my face and snarled at me.

"S-sorry," I dipped my chin to give him more space but didn't move away. "B-but please listen to me. Your secrets are safe. No one else is on this planet. W-we're alone. I'm alone! I crashed here twelve y-years ago, and no one is even looking for me!" I was sweating and babbling and crying. My face heated with shame but I couldn't seem to stop talking. "S-so if-if you just give me time, maybe I can reverse it! So please don't kill us!"

My words had an immediate reaction. A strange one. One that shocked me, to my core. The Yautja didn't blow us up, he didn't snarl, or even become aggressive. Instead, he stared up at me in a way that conveyed annoyed bemusement and huffed. Huffed! The same sound my mother and brothers used to make whenever I exasperated them. And it dawned on me where I'd screwed up. I'd wrongly assumed his calm demeanor meant he was resigned. But his reactions spoke differently.

"Y-you weren't going to blow us up, were you?" I asked tentatively.

"Foolisssh, ooman," he said straightening and swiping a lock of my hair aside.

The disparaging undertone in his rumbly voice was not lost on me and it stung. Though, I hadn't the faintest idea why, after all, I didn't know this alien beyond his species name.

 _It is the nature of humans,_ I thought wistfully. Realizing that nature is to blame. I may prefer the company of jackals to humans, but I am still human. We are pack animals. It is natural for us to crave companionship and after being alone for so long, I was not immune to the unbidden desire.

How ironic that the first intellectual person I come into contact with in over a decade would be a creature who hunts humans for sport and even seemed to be revulsed by my presence. If not for the ill effects of the crown lily spores, which can cause vivid hallucinations, blurred vision, loss of impulse control, and paranoia, I doubt I would've ever been aware of his presence on this planet. The Yautja prey on humans, yes, but all the previous targets were substantially bigger than me, and either they were well trained, or had an alpha type personality. I had none of the above. At 4'9", and 48 kilos (when I remember to eat), I am often mistaken for a child. My mother used to say she cursed me by naming me Usagi, meaning rabbit, because she felt I was too soft both in body and in mind. And with artificial legs that were more temperamental than a pair of wolverines, it only reinforced those aspects.

Staring into the Yautja's cold green orbs, I knew I didn't fit the criteria of worthy prey. When he killed me, it would be out of necessity or because I couldn't return him to his physically correct size.

"Ooman," his voice was quieter. Deeper... _Scarier_. I ducked my eyes and fought not to meet his fierce gaze again but lost when he wound a fistful of my hair around his forearm and forcefully jerked with a snarly-bark. I met his piercing gaze and whimpered. "'Ou v'ill chaaange," he thumped his chest angrily with his free fist, "bacK!"

"I-I c-caaaan't!" My words ended with a squeal as he yanked my hair again. "'Ou v'ill chaaange bacK, ooman," he repeated, his voice as dangerous as a knife's edge resting against my carotid.

"I need time!"

He growled.

My eyes searched his, and I hoped my blind faith in my instincts wouldn't get me killed. "L-look, I c-can't-"

His growl deepened, and I feverishly hurried to continue.

"-change you back right now because I d-don't really understand what happened myself! B-but given time, I think I can f-figure it out and reverse it, then help you escape the planet's atmosphere before it's too late!"

At this, his body tensed and he surprised me by relinquishing the iron grip he had on my hair in favor of his wrist-comp. He made some soft unintelligible utterances beneath his breath interspersed with those strange clicks as if talking to himself.

The Yautja paused and peered up at me with thinly veiled annoyance, and it took me a moment to realize I'd unconsciously leaned in closer to listen to his mutterings. My face flamed, and I shrank away with a stilted smile.

He snorted and held up his arm equipped with the wrist-comp between us. A holographic image materialized, and I found myself staring at an incredibly detailed scale model of this planet's solar system. It is a binary system, and orbiting around its suns is four visible planets and around those planets is more than three dozen moons.

The image changed, zipping passed two of the planets and their various moons then following the curvature of one of the stars before finally coming to rest on empty space. Or at least, the illusion of empty space. I knew exactly what he was showing me.

"It's Alice," I said, referring to this planet. _Alice in Wonderland_ was the story my papa read to me most often as a child. And I hated it. My papa used to tell me you can not put wonder or magic under a microscope; it's either something you believe or you don't. For a scientist to entertain, much less believe, in such outlandish and childish notions, is very contradictory, yet my papa was the anomaly to the standard. My belief was in the science. Unfortunately, this planet embodied a child's fairytale and threw out the science. If I was ever asked to describe hell, this would be it. Thus the name Alice.

He cocked his head, "Aaaalice."

I nodded and pointed to the empty space. "Alice, this planet, is here. But because of the Red Queen's Shroud, it is undetectable to the naked eye above the atmosphere and wreaks havoc on scanners. The shroud confuses them. That's how I crash."

 _And undoubtedly how you crashed,_ I added quietly.

The Yautja made a trilling vocalization and tapped the wrist-comp, and the image winked out of existence. He swiped my hair aside and directed my attention behind us and up at the sky with a sharp hand gesture. I straightened and glanced out of the broken window, following his line of sight. It wasn't raining anymore, but the clouds still lorded over the planet with angry discharges of lightning and booming thunder. And beyond those thick, rolling clouds was the red haze of the omnipresent shroud.

"We can't see it right now," my gaze returned to him. "But, the shroud is there. And that's how Alice mimics a rogue planet while still under the gravitational influence of dual stars."

The Yautja huffed and jabbed his wrist-comp, giving me the impression he was losing his patience again.

" _...help you escape the planet's atmosphere before it's too late..._ "

I blinked. It was disconcerting hearing a recording of myself played back at me. I wanted to ask, but the slight narrowing of his eyes, clearly said I'd better get to the point. Fast.

I cleared my throat, "In approximately five days this planet will reach its zenith, and the shroud will subside enough for you to escape. Assuming your ship is still operational that is."

He said nothing, so I continued. "Five days should give me enough time to figure out what... I... um... did..."

The beginnings of a low growl rumbled in his chest.

"I-I will reverse it!" I said hastily. I could've bitten my tongue off for making such a rash promise. But I was too afraid of what he might do if I implied I might _not_ be able to reverse it. "S-so please, will you give me those five days? I promise you will be safe here and you'll get n-no trouble from me. I only want to h-help."

The Yautja snorted as if I amused him then turned and gave me his back. A clear indication that he did not fear me, and I was being dismissed.

"Ooman," he didn't look back, and his voice was a low rumble fraught with danger. "Ell-osde non-ku des'et hdin t'rai-vu." He raised his arm and the little object he'd thrown at the ceiling earlier dropped, hovered for a second, then reattached itself into the wrist-comp.

From across the room, Toki shrieked in annoyance as he pounced on one of the clones only to have it abruptly disappear at the same time. Toki landed on his hind legs and immediately turned, expecting to be rushed, but the clones were gone. The little raptor chirped, his head making several little jerks as he looked around the room.

 _It must've been some kind of amplifier,_ I thought absently.

"Wait! What does ell-ellsde nonku det hin t-t..." I sighed, frustrated at myself for even trying to repeat the complex dialect. "What did you say?"

The Yautja ignored me and hopped down, landing in the puddle with barely a splash. It drew Toki's attention, and the little raptor lowered his body, neck stretched tautly, claws extended, and snarled. Sensing the perilous change in the other predator's demeanor Toki mock charged, testing the Yautja. At this, the Yautja snorted and faced Toki, his stance ready and confident.

"If you hurt Toki, I won't help you!" I blurted. And when the Yautja tilted his head to look back at me with one narrowed eye and a growl that sounded eerily like a Bengal tiger's, I decided the old saying "sweating bullets" was no longer a ridiculous exaggeration.

"T-toki," my gaze hesitantly darted to the little raptor. Toki raised his head, his nostrils flaring. "Toki," I reached out my hand, "to me."

Toki sniffed, his head bobbing slightly as he eyed the Yautja. With a disgruntled snort, he hastily streaked towards me but kept his gaze firmly trained on the other predator. The little raptor ignored my outstretched hand and leapt onto my bent knee where the Yautja had been. He split his focus between checking on me and squeaking at the other predator. Toki sniffed at my hair and hissed, he hopped to my shoulder and rubbed the underside of jaw against mine, marking me with his scent. A behavioral trait humans often find endearing, but to the animal, it's a claim. Toki was telling the Yautja "this is mine" which is technically the same possessive behavior humans typically hate.

"P-please," I said, and the Yautja's attention flicked from Toki to me. It was hard to tell because of the mask, but if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say the little raptors actions bemused him. "Don't hurt him. He's all I've got."

He considered me for a moment, then tossed his head with a scoff and started moving away.

"Wait! Where are you going?!"

He didn't answer he just kept walking and from one breath to the next he cloaked and disappeared. He wasn't leaving, that much I was sure of, but it was nerve-wracking not knowing where he was.

Toki squeaked at me, and I wrapped one hand around him and held him to my chest. The little raptor chirped and nudged my chin with his snout. "It's okay, Toki," I said, attempting to reassure myself more than Toki. I grabbed the staff with my free hand and slowly struggled to stand up. It was a relief to get out of the puddle. "We're going to be okay..."

 _Except now, Usagi, you have to figure out how to reverse what you did with only the barest grasp on the causality..._

I held Toki a little tighter, and for the first time since the crash, I wished I wasn't alone...

* * *

 **A/N: *sighs* Sadly, no real cliffhanger this time. I'll just have to think of a mean one in the future. ;D Hope everyone enjoyed chapter 3. Sorry for mistakes. Thanks for hittin' those favs and follow buttons! And thanks for the awesome reviews, XD Future updates on this story and others can be found on my profile page. Hope everyone had an awesome 4th!**

 **Yautja translation:**

 **"Ell-osde non-ku des'et hdin t'rai-vu." Loosely translated: "You live because I deem it so."**

 **Ell-osde: You**

 **The rest of the sentence is non-canon. I had to make up the words.**

* * *

 **crocfarmer: Lol, I was nice this time and didn't make the ending abrupt or cruel ;)**

 **angel897: Eeee, so happy you liked it! XD**

 **KittyKatt25: We'll see if he holds a grudge ;) I probably would, lol! Did you like how I multiplied the Yautja? XD**

 **Anonymous Reviewers: Thank you! I will write more soon.**

 **Luna Silvereyes: Me too! I adore Toki! He's one of my favorite creations! Lol, and I agree, having a mini Yautja sounds fun but we'd probably pay for it. Thanx so much for the love my friend :)**

 **CieloDistante: Lol, I smile every time I read your reviews. They're always so sweet and encouraging. Haha, you saw where I was going with the Alice in Wonderland bit. Honestly, there was no way not to reference that fairytale in this story. A talking, Toki?... We'd all be begging for earplugs XD Hope all is well with you, my friend. Thanx for the love :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**The Dichotomy of Predator and Prey**

The bright yellow light stung my retinas, the quick rotation nauseating. Between the slight flooding and the broken window, the environmental system was having a conniption. Most of the habitat, or hab, is self-sustaining, but it was my job to maintain its structural integrity. And a disoriented Yautja flying through the window unquestionably destroyed said integrity.

Toki squeaked plaintively and wiggled in my grasp. The little raptor didn't appreciate me clutching him like a security blanket. "Sorry," I said quietly and loosened my grip. Chittering, Toki bit my shirt and using his snout in the same manner a bird uses its beak, clambered up to my shoulder. He perched himself in the thicket of my hair, hunkering down close to my neck like a tiny watchful gargoyle; going very quiet and very still.

I smiled fondly. Taking advantage of my height, the little raptor was simultaneously guarding me and stalking the Yautja. On this planet, Toki's species ruled as the apex predators and in fact, aside from a few insectoid and arachnoid creatures, they were the only true carnivores I've come across thus far. He had no reason to fear the Yautja because a) other than the ascension in the ranks of his pack and breeding season, no other predators have challenged him (None that I have ever witnessed, anyway. It is possible that if there were other predators Toki's species drove them from their territory long before my arrival.) and b) up until now, there have been no other visitors to this planet. Again, at least not since I have been here. But a Yautja, a sort of renown Baba Yaga, colloquially known as a _Predator_ , has a hunting prowess that is one of the few things that is universally understood. And as tenacious and dominant as Toki is, I wasn't sure my little friend stood a chance against a being who specialized in killing Xenomorphs.

 _Don't fall. Don't fall._

The hab floor was a minefield of tripping hazards. I hobbled cautiously through the debris, wincing as the burn on my side from the Yautja's weapon tightened with every hesitant step. From beneath my lashes, I found myself constantly scanning the room, freezing every few steps when my imagination turned a flickering movement into a charging Yautja. The fear and the adrenaline was causing my mind to play tricks on me, and I was jumping at literal shadows.

 _Wounded prey in the midst of predators..._

Past nightmares sprang to the forefront of my mind and triggered a sensory memory, one of great pain and loss. Time suspended itself, and for a second I felt my legs were whole again then felt the staggering pain of being ripped apart. The sensation overwhelmed me. I lost my staff. The shadows grew fangs and the air evacuated from my lungs.

Toki shrieked, his toe claws digging into my shoulder. The piercing cry startled me, brought me out my cognitive lapse in reality and compelled me into taking action before I even comprehended the control hub wasn't flying at my face, I was falling towards it. My palms smacked the panels with a dull thud. I leaned heavily over the controls, my arms shaking as they braced against it. Panting. Sweating. My heart was racing hard. Too hard. I had to calm down.

 _It wasn't real, Usagi. Yes, the Yautja are notoriously fearsome hunters, but they are nothing like the unruly, and vicious creatures that took papa._ _They are not Xenomorphs-_ he _is not a Xenomorph._

Xenomorphs had been the ultimate and final challenge in animal behavior my papa dared to undertake. Needless to say, he never completed his studies, and I wasn't inclined to finish it for him. It saddened me to leave his work in a fragmentary state, but I could not face those creatures. Not again. _Never_ again.

I took a deep breath and opened my eyes, unaware that I'd closed them. My nose was inches from the lit up panel, and my hip-length black hair fell through the vertical holoscreen disrupting the beams of light as it continued to angrily, flash WARNING in bright orange.

Slowly, I inched my fingers forward and manually inputted the command to bypass the security protocols. The yellow flashing light overhead turned off, and the room brightened as the main power came back online. As a protective measure, the hab automatically shuts down the main power when environmental alarms get tripped. Water and electronics tend to have a hate-hate relationship.

Toki clung between the junction of my neck and shoulder, his tail sweeping through my hair as he found balance. Chittering plaintively he stretched his neck out and chirped at me. When I didn't move, the little raptor climbed over my shoulder and slid down my upper arm to my forearm and perched there. His head cocked to one side, he then jerked it to the other side staring up at me quizzically with those bright sunfire eyes and squeaked curiously.

"I'm okay," I exhaled, leaning heavily on the console. "We're, okay."

We weren't, but that was beside the point.

Toki hopped onto the console as I pushed myself up. His nostrils flared, and he spun away from me, stretching himself up and balancing on his thick tail.

I felt it too.

We were being watched. Not surprising just... unnerving.

I peered over my shoulder and quickly scanned the room but even with the lights on it made no difference. The stealth field made him virtually invisible unless I painstakingly searched for the hazy distortion it created. But even then the chance of spotting said distortion was almost nill.

I slumped forward and dropped my head with a frustrated sigh. My eyes settled on the holoscreen, with the alarms shut off it returned to its programmed routine of weather data collection, keeping track of time, and other various subroutines. Twenty-seven minutes. That's how long it took to shatter my peaceful, quiet existence.

My fingers curled and dug into the console. Time was of the essence, and my life teetered on the tip of the proverbial knife. I had to reverse what I'd done, but at the moment I was too frantic and scared to attempt an experiment. If I was going to figure this out, I had to have a clear head. Which also meant I would have to experiment and try to recreate the exact moments leading up to when the Yautja smashed through the window.

 _Papi..._ The well of tears spilled over and down my cheeks. _... what do I do?_

The fear paralyzed me. I didn't want to die. And I knew, even if I was successful the Yautja would probably kill me out of necessity.

 _What would you do, papa?_

I closed my eyes and recalled the time my papa and I were trapped in a Wey-Yu space station orbiting Saturn after a _Humans First_ advocate, masquerading as guard managed to sneak explosives into the lab and blew up the fusion reactor. The mere thought of Humans First brought a scowl to my face. They were nothing but terrorists. Wey-Yu wasn't much better, but they were _mostly_ ecosystem and genome terrorists.

 _"What do we do?!"_ I remember crying and of course, being terrified. _"Liebchen,"_ my papa placed his strong hands on my shoulders, _"we must first restore order."_

Toki squeaked, and I opened my eyes to find him staring up at me. He titled his head from side to side and stretched up, touching his snout to my cheek and sniffing. It tickled, and a tiny smile broke free despite the seriousness of our situation. I wasn't alone.

"Restore order," I repeated my papa's words. I took a deep breath and straightened. "First I must restore order."

...

"My n-name is Usagi."

I listened carefully for any indication of a response but wasn't surprised when the Yautja remained silent. Wherever he was lurking, I could still very clearly feel the weight of his attention. It prickled the hairs on the back of my neck and made Toki an unhappy theropod.

Toki vocalized his frustration with a myriad of squeaks and chirps, bobbing his head in agitation as he scoured the room for the intruder. I kept an eye on him in my peripheral vision while simultaneously attempting to debug my artificial leg and keep a constant vigilance. It was _exhausting_. The weariness sank into every cell of my body and even managed to drain the last vestiges of my spirit.

I was in a much more vulnerable position seated in a chair with one of my limbs lying on the console in front of me. We'd come to a crossroad. The Yautja needed me alive for the time being so I felt minutely better about sitting with my back exposed to the room as the computer ran diagnostics on my artificial limb.

"How are your wounds?" Now that the adrenaline wasn't numbing the pain, I was acutely aware of all my own, assortment of bumps, bruises, burns, and cuts. Which in turn, reminded me that the Yautja was also injured, though I doubted he would ever show any sign of pain. The Yautja exuded pride the way an unstable radioactive isotope emits alpha, beta, and gamma rays. And I had a feeling poking said pride would be about as dangerous as handling a radioisotope with my bare hands. So I would be careful how I phrased my questions.

Once again the Yautja remained silent, and again I wasn't surprised. The Yautja may not feel inclined to talk, but it made me feel better. Moreover, he didn't seem to be bothered by my rambling or at least he wasn't growling at me to shut up. It was the only thing I could think to do while I sat on my rump and waited for the computer to hopefully, fix whatever was wrong with my artificial leg because frankly, technology was not my forte. I understood enough to get by, but if the hab hadn't been self-sustaining, even this placid planet would've killed me a long time ago.

I bent at the waist and reached beneath the desk with a grunt of pain to retrieve one of the few dozen medkits I had stashed around the hab. I set the kit on the console then yanked my burned and bloody shirt up over my head, revealing the dark burgundy EM6 skin suit beneath. The environmental suit did its job and took the brunt of the damage caused by the Yautja's energy base weapon.

I tucked a finger under the charred edge of the hole and stretched it to get a better look at the wound. My skin was a deep angry red, bubbling with shiny blisters, and tacky with blood. It wasn't as ugly as it looked. The pain was intense, but I've survived much worse.

For the most part, I don't typically wear the environmental suit anymore unless the terrain warrants it but I couldn't recall why I put it on today. I frowned.

 _What was I doing before the Yautja appeared?_

My brain simulated a shaken snow globe, every thought fluttering crazily inside my head as I tried to remember. The only memory that kept surfacing was the sound of the glass shattering... and an angry roar... and I had this mental impression of a giant shadowed figure leaping at me and...

Something landed on my thigh, and I jumped with a startled yelp. Toki squeaked at me, his little forelimbs wiggling as he looked up at me.

I patted my chest and whined, "Toki... I almost had it that time."

He cocked his head in confusion, his nostrils flaring.

Sighing, I grabbed a spray of local anesthesia and numbed up the wound in my side. The environmental suit kept getting in the way, and I itched to rid myself of it but couldn't bring myself to take it off with another set of eyes in the room.

The little raptor hopped onto the console, sniffed at the medkit, then went back to his previous engagement of searching for the Yautja. He didn't wander very far this time, sticking close to me. And I wondered if that meant the Yautja was closer than before or if Toki was simply growing more agitated by the Yautja's ability to elude him.

I didn't think the Yautja was hiding. He'd proven that shrunk and even wounded he was more than a match for the little raptor and me. However, it was instinctual for a wounded predator, especially one who's just come out of a toxin induced state of paranoia and panic, to want to take stock of his situation and surroundings.

 _Maybe he's doing the same thing I am._

"You don't have to worry about Toki," I said continuing my one-sided conversation with the Yautja. "He'll behave."

Toki spun around and squawked angrily.

My brows knit together, "You will behave, Toki."

His scales flared briefly in agitation then settled as he opened his jaws and hissed.

"Of course, I'm scared! But I gave him my word that I would return him to his natural size and help him escape!"

The little raptor shook his head and continued squeaking.

"Hey! I am not!" My face flushed hot, "You take that back!"

Toki simply snorted and turned away from me. I was half tempted to throw a roll of gauze at him when I noticed his scales were slightly puffed up again. The little raptor straightened and craned his neck, tipping his head so far back it nearly touched his spine. Toki's eyes narrowed, and he opened his mouth and hissed.

I looked up, and my heart _thumped_ in surprise. The Yuatja was crouched on the shelf directly above my head, watching me. I never heard him. I never even knew he was there.

 _How long has he been there?_

It took my brain a moment to understand that I was seeing him because he was _letting_ me see him.

"H-hi," I shrank down into the chair and nervously fidgeted with the CR-gel. CR is shorthand for Cellular Regenesis, and it significantly sped up the healing process for minor injuries. "I, um... I-I have plenty of medical supplies i-if you need them."

The Yuatja inclined his head, and I heard the faintest of clicks. Once again, I got the sense that I'd confused him which in turn confused me. Did he not understand? I knew he had a decent grasp on English, my still being able to turn oxygen into carbon dioxide was proof of that, but there was no doubt that _what_ I was saying puzzled him.

 _Perhaps he's not accustomed to conversing with other species? After all, the Yautja are secretive by nature and..._

Then it hit me, and I felt the color drain from my face. I ducked behind my hair and stared down at the huge glob of CR-gel I'd accidentally squished out into my palm.

 _He's not accustomed to talking to prey._

"M-my name is Usagi."

 _Wait? Didn't I already tell him my name?_

Nerves were getting the better of me. It was a natural response, but I was beginning to feel quite foolish. I gave myself a mental shake and reminded myself that for now, he needed me and that this was a rare opportunity. No human has ever gotten this close to a Yautja (in this way) without getting their heads taken. Much less talk to one of them, even if he didn't feel inclined to respond. It's not always immediately clear or comprehensive, but even silence is a form of communication. And I could glean quite a bit of information from that alone.

"So I think first, I should experiment with a non-biological. Perhaps a piece of fabric or something equally inert." I wiped the glob of CR-gel off with a strip of gauze. Talking to prey may not be normal for the Yautja, but talking to predators is an inherent part of my job. Moreover, it was an essential part of me. It helped me cope with the fear... though, strangely, it has never helped me get over my discomfort of being around other humans. And if I really thought about it, I knew exactly why that was.

I gave myself another mental shake. The last thing I needed was to trigger another sensory memory overload.

"But I can't start experimenting until I at least fix the window. Trust me. We want the hab tightly sealed within the next few hours. Alice tends to annoy me with her nonsensical weather." My eyes automatically flicked up. It wasn't raining anymore which would make the job easier, and modern tech would repair the window without my assistance. Which was a good thing because the window was seven by eight feet, way too tall for me to repair on my own. "Every so often, the day will start out beautiful, clear enough to see the Red Queen's shroud and then suddenly clouds thick enough to blot out the light of the twin stars storm over the planet and it rains molten glass. Glass! Just like HD 189733b, residing in the Vulpecula constellation."

 _He probably doesn't know constellations or planets by their human designations._

The absent thought came and went as I continued to prattle on. "And weirder still is how the molten glass doesn't seem to affect the plant life or the animals on this planet. Er, well, the animals know to hide when the weather turns wacky but the plants, they can't run and yet they're unaffected. In fact, the soil seems to drink up the molten glass as if it were water and there is even some vegetation with distinct glassy adaptations. Oh! And then there are the ten legged arthropods, whose exoskeletons are composed of pure crystallized carbon-"

"Uuu _sssa_ gi..."

My head jerks up as if I were a marionette having her strings pulled. The med tape and gauze drop from my hands, forgotten, and I am barely aware of the _thunk_ they make when they hit the floor.

 _Stars, did he... did he just say my name?_

I blink owlishly at the Yautja, unable to hide my shock. It is only when the Yuatja cocks his head do I realize I am blatantly staring into his poison green eyes and I freeze like my name sake. Like _prey_. A low growly rumble resonates within his chest, and the Yautja snorts. And there was just no misinterpreting that sound. The Yautja was _laughing_ at me...

* * *

 **A/N: Hi! Hi! Hi, everyone! Hope you enjoyed the newest update! Thanks for hitting those favs and follow buttons! And a BIG thank you for the reviews! Just FYI, my next update might be a bit delayed. Destiny 2 beta came out whoo-hoo! Gamer nerd right here yo! Lol! Love you all to pieces! Thanks again! Fun fact, planet HD 189733b is an actual planet that rains glass XD Future updates can be found on my profile.**

 **KTCameleon: I like the way you think girl! We'll see how the story wants to play out ;) Thanx for the love**

 **crocfarmer: Trilling *snickers* cute play on words XD**

 **Anonymous Reviewers: I will write more soon! Thanx for the love :)**

 **angel897: Thank you! That makes me happy :)**

 **Luna Silvereyes: I feel like I need to give you an intro: Luna of the Silver Eyes *thrilling music in the background* XD Glad you noticed. I doubt YoungBloods would be trusted with that kind of tech either. And I'm glad you find him scarier than my other predators.**

 **KittyKatt25: awe, thanks! XD I'd go crazy if I was alone that long too, lol.**

 **CieloDistante: Lol, the clones might serve another purpose later. *Giggles* You're always so full of questions. I absolutely love it. But you know, you'll have to keep reading if you want the answers ;) But I promise they will be answered. Your reviews have become my sort of check and balance. I take notes. Making sure I do answer certain things throughout the story. I don't think the Yautja think of aging the same way humans do. Their age speaks to their hunting prowess. That they survived dozens, maybe even hundreds of hunts in their time. For the most part, the older they are, the more respect they earn. The same is true for the weapons they use. Yautja have the technology to kill easily, but they want a challenge. They crave it. And killing worthy prey with only bare hands or primitive weapons demands even more respect. More honor. Thanks for the love my friend :)**

 **KATT9033: Lol, I know, right! Thanks for the love :)**

 **Tenfangirl: Hello my friend! I missed you too! Hope you are doing well! I'm so happy you're enjoying my new story XD**


	5. Chapter 5

**Aberrant Form of Madness**

I've often marveled at a predator's ability to remain perfectly still for extended periods of time. The persistent air of readiness to spring at any given moment. Like they're in a perpetual state of frozen motion.

 _Rabbit, indeed._

I don't think my name carries a curse the way my mother believes it does, but there is no denying the kindred spirit I share with my name sake.

The Yautja crouched on the shelf above my head, his lower back pressed into my fathers well-worn leather journals. Balanced on the balls of his feet, he rested his elbows on his knees with a casualness that gave him an eerily human quality and belied the aura of readiness surrounding him.

For the past five hours, the aloof predator has quietly watched me from his vantage point. Never moving and never saying anything. And while I wanted to escape his intense scrutiny, I wanted to study him more because he was allowing me to do so. Occasionally, I would duck my head if I accidentally caught his eye, but the Yautja didn't seem troubled by my wandering gaze. But being about as threatening as a rabbit probably played into that. Had I been another predator or even remotely threatening the Yautja would've killed me. I may be envious of his natural prowess, but there are advantages to being prey too. In this situation, it was better to be the rabbit than to be the wolf.

"Okay, I think I'm ready," I announced. Even though the Yautja hasn't spoken since he said my name all those hours ago, I continued to verbalize everything I did. The endless one-sided conversation with him counteracted the fear, and I managed to restore some semblance of order. My left leg was reattached and functioning within acceptable perimeters, and I had successfully reset my neural link to the artificial limb. The window had been repaired, the shattered glass picked up and dumped into the habs recycle system, and everything was either dry or almost dry. So now I felt reasonably ready to start experimenting.

A wave of unexpected giddiness took me by surprise, and I smiled at the prospect of what I was about to attempt. Theoretical physics nor experimental physics has ever really been in my wheelhouse but who doesn't enjoy testing a good theory and analyzing the results. Then a nettlesome thought tempered my excitement.

 _Except, Alice doesn't abide by natural laws. The test may not work at all if I only apply traditional science..._

Crestfallen, I shook my head.

 _Ridiculous. What logic is there behind_ willing _something into existence? None!_

And yet, no matter how much I opposed the idea or challenged it, I knew Alice didn't care...

...

"Eeeee-" I cowered behind the console chair, shielding myself with it. There was a series of soft _whaps_ that I both felt and heard coming from the other side. "-quick, Toki! Catch it!"

The little raptor shrieked, his claws clicking on the console as he charged my... um.. unforeseen mishap.

 _Unforeseen?!_ I snorted derisively. _What nonsensical tripe! No one could've predicted this because only small children who believe in unicorns and the tooth fairy could make sense of it! All I wanted to do was_ shrink _the datapad, not_ animate _it! For Pluto's sake, the thing grew arms and legs! There is no logic behind that! It's pure insanity!_

I peeked under the arm of the chair and did a double take at the sight of half a dozen pencils sticking out of the chair's worn cushion like harpoons. Most people considered things such as pencils and paper to be outdated, making them hard to find and pricey. But my father instilled his sentiment for nostalgia in me, along with a fierce desire to protect collected data, "paper is not hackable" he would often say. And having those articles of nostalgia used as weapons against me evoked a strong desire to put an end to this madness.

Moving my impromptu shield with me, I slowly inched my way forward. The word "freeze" was on the tip of my tongue, after all, it worked before, hadn't it. So why not this time. I knew perfectly well that what works one way will not always work the same the next but even if the datapad became encased in a block of ice that would stop it, right? Right.

A sudden high pitched enraged mechanical " _ **Brrreeeebreee**_ " startled me so badly I fell on my butt with a squeak. _How can a beep sound enraged?!_ The chair toppled over on top of me, and I curled up automatically. Another angry beep brought my attention up, and the datapad spun past my head with the speed of a boomerang. I screamed and tucked my chin into my chest and brought my forearms up to protect my head.

"Make it stop! Make it stop!"

The datapad was only the size of a standard piece of letter paper, but its intense desire to maim me made it a force to be reckoned with.

 _Why is it so mad?!_

Moreover, how could it be angry? Even if animating it had been my intention, the datapad wasn't an AI. It didn't have the capability to process emotion so how was the tantrum it was throwing even possible?! It wasn't, this had to be one of Alice's constructs.

 _Stop it, Usagi! Don't get swept away into the madness. You are dangerously close to implying that Alice is vindictive and in doing so you would be implying the planet itself is_ alive _and therefore has some degree of intelligence. Which is a groundless speculation stemming from fear and my apparent inability to comprehend what is happening!_

Crazy notions aside, I had a real problem.

A _whoosh_ of air passed over me, the current sweeping my hair above my head. I yelped. That had felt extremely close. Toki squawked angrily, his sudden weight on the chair sent the arm digging into my ribs. But just as quickly he leaped away, determined to catch what was quite possibly a homicidal datapad.

Amidst the chaos, an isolated part of my cognizance remained readily aware of the Yautja and his steadfast attention.

There was an undeniable power, a physical phenomenon, that occurred whenever this predator looked at me. A commanding presence that overwhelmed the senses and forced one to pay attention even if the world was burning around our feet. I _had_ to find him. I _had_ to meet his gaze because it was expected of me. That kind of power was not something you find in juveniles or even adults who have been put through their paces. No. This kind of power was something he amassed through decades, maybe, even centuries. It wasn't a theory, just a feeling. An intuitive understanding that when my slate grey eyes met his poison green ones, I was beholding an ancient being. Not to mention an angry one.

Hands gripping the edge of the console, he sank deeper into his crouched position and stretched forward into open space, growling, he said, "Dtai'kai-dte igu..."

"I-I d-don't understand."

His head raised and he roared, "f _iiii_ ghT bacK!"

When I didn't move or even draw in a breath, he made an angry chuffing noise as if I disgusted him. I barely registered what happened next, for in a single bound he dropped to the floor, landed without even disturbing the air and came within inches of my face. It was like stop motion. One second he's up on top of the console and the next he's in front of me. His movements had been so fast they appeared disjointed.

I shrank into an even tighter ball, and I stared at him with wide eyed uncertainty. The tense, prolonged position was making my stomach cramp. He wanted me to stop what I started. I wanted the same but the thought of standing up and making myself a bigger target was obviously illogical and highly unsatisfactory.

Toki shrieked somewhere out of sight then there was a long suffering beep from the datapad and the familiar soft electronic whir that preluded a system shutdown. I jerked at the sound, the Yautja and I both turned our heads, and I gasped.

The animated datapad with its weirdly human metallic feet, and hands, was hopping around on the main console simultaneously dodging Toki and systematically killing power grids.

"No!" I kicked at the chair, turned over on my belly, and reached out a desperate hand. Reached for the maniacal little evil I inadvertently animated. "Stop it!"

The lights blinked off, plunging me into total darkness, and I screamed...

...

On the floor, edging around my hiding spot beneath the console adjacent to the main one, dappled blue lights broke through the claustrophobic blackness and gave the hab a faint depth. I pressed myself into the wall, tucking my knees as tightly as I could to my chest and laid my head on my tense forearms.

Fear of the dark is irrelevant and irrational. A child's fear. I knew this, and at the (technical) age of thirty-four and being a woman whose process is controlled by her left-brain, and not her emotions, I should be past this. But here I was cowering under the console because the lights had gone out. I felt foolish and scared and angry all at once. My forearms and cheeks were wet with unbidden tears which only exacerbated the emotions reeking havoc on my psyche.

 _Papa!_

My whole body went rigid. I could feel them. They were out there. Slinking through the darkness the way a serpent swims through water.

 _They took him! They took him away from me!_

The soft blue emergency lights of the console outlined a creature standing just outside its reach.

"Go away," I whispered fiercely between shallow breaths.

The creature didn't move at first, but then slowly it stepped into the dim pool of light, revealing _himself_ to me. It was the Yautja. My heart _thumped_ in surprised relief because for ten terrifying seconds I really believed he was a Xenomorph.

Irrational or not, there is a reason I don't ever turn off all the lights.

I peered at him over my forearms and through the curtain of my hair. The halo of blue light deepened the shadows of his mask, hiding his eyes. I couldn't read him and honestly, I wasn't sure I wanted to. _Damn it_ _, Usagi, you can do it! Just get up!_ But I couldn't, and my cheeks burned hot with shame and anger.

What did he think of me? I could lie to myself and pretend I didn't care but the problem is that I did. I cared how this creature saw me. It was a reprehensible flaw but ultimately, a very human one.

Surely after witnessing such a shameful act (A grown woman hiding from the dark, which in itself is impossible.) would be seen as revolting to a Yautja. A fearsome warrior who prided himself on hunting and killing the deadliest of prey. Would my weakness compel him to kill me? Because, clearly, I am not strong enough to do what needs to be done...

The Yautja disappeared without a sound, and again the movement had been so fast it appeared as nonsequential intermittent flashes. I tucked my chin into the crook of my arm and curled my toes against the hard floor. When I was young, my brother Takahiro would always find me, and instead of yelling at me or getting frustrated like Daiki or my mother, he would squeeze in beside me and sit with me until I was ready to leave on my own. Never have I missed him more than in this moment. But it would be selfish of me to wish for him to be here since I was the one who ran away in the first place.

A shrill computerized trill came from above me, and I banged the top of my head on the underside of the console as my head jerked up at the distressing sound. Toki snarled. Claws and metallic footfalls raced around above my head.

I heard the roar of the Yautja; the high-pitched wailing beeps of the datapad and suddenly they both hit the floor with a deafening _clap_ , and in the halo of blue light I saw the outline of the Yautja; the glint of his spear; and heard, the metallic _clang,_ and the _crunch_ of shattering glass, as the Yautja drove his spear through the datapad.

 _Well, that's one way to stop it..._

A shower of hot blue sparks silhouetted the Yautja, highlighting the powerful build of this creature in a fascinating way. Of course, I took note of this specimen's remarkably prime condition before but not quite like this. Beyond the scientific approach, there was a tensile beauty to the steely contours of this superb predator's musculature.

 _He must be incredibly disciplined which makes sense considering he purposely hunts the biggest and the meanest of prey._

Toki hopped down from the console, landing near my hiding spot. The little raptor snorted and stared at the Yautja for a beat then turned away and scampered over to me as the Yautja straightened and yanked his spear free. Toki squeaked at me, his head jerking in the same nervous twitch-like manner most small animals and birds do when looking at something or someone. The Yautja turned towards me, but once again, the bad angle of the light rendered him unreadable.

"I'm sorry," I breathed. I stared hard at my toes, curling and curling them. "That wasn't supposed to happen. I-I mean there are always setbacks when it comes to experimenting with anomalous elements but this..." The datapad no longer sparked but it's... _death_ gave off a subtle whiff of ozone. "... this goes beyond awry."

My eyes flicked to the shadow laden Yautja then immediately down to my toes, cheeks burning hot with embarrassment. He didn't seem angry anymore. In fact, other than the steady weight of his gaze I felt absolutely nothing coming from him.

 _But that's good, right?_

Hard to speculate anything when he gave me nothing. Perhaps my damning display of cowardice simply confused him so badly he was no longer certain what to do with me.

"S-sorry," my toes ached from curling them so long. "I-I'm sure you're frustrated and ready for this experience to be behind you, but I have to keep running tests for now. While I've learned how to interact with the strange forces that govern Alice, I must admit I don't usually try to. I find most of the time I can not purposely direct those forces but that they react to my reactions. And you must understand for a scientist, manipulating the world around them using nothing but the power of their mind, their _will_ , is an aberrant form of madness."

 _Stars! That's it!_

My head snapped up, "That's it!" Toki chittered plaintively, as I surged forward on hands and knees, and crawled over to the datapad. The Yautja cocked his head in surprise but didn't back away at my sudden nearness. I scooped up the broken datapad and smiled at the Yautja, "I think I know what went wrong!"

His head tipped up, and he seemed to lean towards me in a curious manner, followed by series of quiet unintelligible clicks.

To me, it appeared as though, I might've confused him, so I elaborated. "The whole point of these experiments is to find a way to return you to normal size without harming you." At this, the Yautja seemed to go very still. But I couldn't be sure, my body blocked most of the blue light, plunging him deeper into shadow, but he was close enough that I could feel the heat of his body. Detect the minute change in his stance. _Or maybe, I've simply over stepped my bounds into his personal space._ I stood up and turned towards the console, "So while I was attempting to... _will,_ " the word made me shudder, "the datapad to shrink, I was trying to remember the emotions I felt when you broke through the window." I turned the main lights back on and blinked at its intensity. "But at the same time, my brain was recalling your behavior in those moments. So it must've been a manifestation of how I perceived you."

 _And not some construct of a vindictive planet,_ I thought with a sharp nod of self-assurance.

I set the datapad on the diagnostics table and left it alone. "This time I need to isolate the exact thought running through my head at that critical moment and duplicate it."

 _Not to mention using a smaller and perhaps softer object as a medium._

When I turned back, thinking to give the Yautja a hand up onto the console, he deftly leaped up and landed beside me with barely a sound. I grinned. I couldn't help it.

 _Why in the world did I think he'd need my help?_ I thought, stifling a giggle. The Yautja has yet to show even the slightest struggle with the sudden and acute change in size. Scaling corners of the hab that even I couldn't reach without the aid of a chair.

"You're quite extraordinary you know, you've managed to adapt to the environment even under the most baffling and inconvenient circumstances."

He cocked his head at me, and for some reason the gesture made me giggle. He stared up at me, his shoulders tense but posture open and at ease. Not defensive just curious and undoubtedly confused.

Toki leaped up after us, the little raptor hissed and with a hopping gate, pressed himself between the Yautja and I. He seemed more wary of the other predator now and gave him a respectable distance, but Toki didn't much care for the Yautja's nearness to me.

Smiling, I bopped the little mischief maker on the snout. Toki spun and squeaked angrily at me, his mouth open as if he may bite. But he wouldn't, he was mock challenging me.

The Yautja watched our exchange with an air of bemused curiosity, and I had to admit that to an outsider my friendship with Toki had to appear rather strange. Toki, despite his adorable antics, was a wild animal, a predator no less but he treated me as though I were one of the hatchlings in his pack. He wasn't a pet, and I knew better than to treat him as such. And truthfully, if not for Toki, his pack which is thirty strong could've easily taken me down.

The complexity of animal behavior depends more on intelligence than brain mass. The human brain accounts for two percent of our body weight, and while Toki's species brain mass only accounted for less than one and a half percent, they were way more intelligent than say a dolphin or an elephant.

Sentience doesn't equal intelligence, but humanity was primitive compared to the Yautja. Long before we even broke through Earth's atmosphere, the Yautja already had interstellar travel. And despite the fear the mere term _Predator_ incited, I wondered just how much of the negative stigma surrounding the Yautja was actually true. They were considered to be monsters and thoughtless killers. But I was starting to believe the Yautja were highly intelligent beings with possibly the most complex behavior humanity has ever encountered. And one of humanities biggest flaws is their propensity to demonize what they don't understand.

I wasn't excusing the Yautjas inclination to hunt humans, but I for one preferred to be better informed. Because, one of the greatest threats to humanity, to any species really, is the spread of misinformation.

Toki nipped at my forearm, and I jumped.

"Oh... Toki," I shook my head. "Sorry," I glanced at the Yautja and ducked my eyes sheepishly. "I, uh, have a tendency to get hyperfocused."

The Yautja made a quiet chuffing noise, and once again I realized I'd amused him in some vexing way.

Cheeks pink with embarrassment, I started rooting around for something to use as a medium and found cotton swabs in a drawer.

 _Well at least if they become animated and are driven by the same homicidal delusions as the datapad I won't be in danger of losing my head..._

...

Thin wisps of acrid smoke lazily curled up from the smoldering remnants of the cotton swab. I coughed, the smoke stinging my eyes, and waved a hand in front of my face. "Okay, well-" I coughed again. "-spontaneous combustion aside, I think the cotton swab doubled in size right before the autoignition... didn't it?"

The Yautja responded with an irritated chuff and glared pointedly at me.

"Frick," I slumped into the chair feeling utterly exhausted and defeated. "This isn't going well." Leaning forward, I planted my elbows on my knees and rubbed my temples. "I need sleep," I admitted. "I haven't slept properly in days, and we've been at this for hours." I glanced at the clock, then looked at the Yautja. "True night is upon us, and of course, there's another more immediate problem. Food."

Toki hissed, and the little raptor momentarily stole my attention as he hopped around the smoldering cotton in agitation and repeatedly snapped at the smoke.

" _...immediate problem..._ "

Hearing my voice, my words, played back to me sent a chill down my spine. For some reason, I found the recordings unsettling but this seemed to be a natural communication modality of the Yautja which meant it was something I was going to have to get used too.

 _Do the Yautja record everything? That would suggest it serves a greater purpose beyond communication..._

I scrubbed my face and moaned. The cotton swab wasn't the only thing I'd fried today. Exhaustion weighed my eyelids down like lead, and I blinked somewhat blearily at the Yautja.

"If there's any hope of you escaping, you can't eat anything on this planet."

He made a curious sounding trill, eyes narrowing ever so slightly behind the mask and seemed to be waiting for me to explain.

I sighed, "Because of a phenomenon I've dubbed as the Changeling Effect..."

* * *

 **A/N: Hi everyone! I'd like to take a beat here and thank everyone for the support! I just can't believe how incredibly lucky I am! Thank you for hittin' those fav and follow buttons, and omg, thank you for the incredible feed back! Hope everyone enjoyed chapter 5! We're about to dive into the meat of the story! And I'm having a blast writing it! Update times can be found on my profile. Thanks, again!**

 **KittyKatt25: Isn't it?! I got the idea from a planet that actually rains glass sideways! Thanx for the love :)**

 **Guest Reviewers: (GR1) Aaaah hello my fellow gamer! Lmao, I know Toki is freakishly cute! Thank you so much for your kind words! XD (GR2) I will write more soon! :)**

 **Tenfangirl: Glad you're doing well. Thank you for the love :)**

 **angel897: Awe, thanks! I hope it'll always be enjoyable :)**

 **Haylz93: Thanx! That's what I was going for! I wanted this particular Yautja to be a kickback to the original Predator(s) while giving him his own personality. I'm so glad his age comes through! It's really hard to convey the difference in the Yautja ages without doing a lot of telling. Awe, I'm so happy you love CIKH enough to reread it ^.^ Stay amazing, Haylz! XD**

 **K. Riley: Lol, I know right! XD Thanx!**

 **xXWhoWantsToKnowXx: Awe, thank you! That's possibly the best thing someone can tell a writer. I can't wait to show you more! XD**

 **hotcat: Thank you :)**

 **Luna Silvereyes: Hello my friend! I'm so happy you enjoyed it! I absolutely love the way Usagi argues with Toki too! I can't understand what he says but Usagi apparently can XD**

 **AwesomeFangirlOtaku01: Lol, I like Usagi's name :)**

 **CieloDistante: Lol, ain't that the truth, but Usagi doesn't even know Nina exists XD But you gotta admit, learning about that planet and Baba Yaga was cool XD I had so much fun learning about different exoplanets and moons. It gave me oodles of ideas for this story. Oh, and yes, the Yautja do have tongues. They're very serpentine. You don't see them in the movies but I've seen them in the graphic novels. Lol, I am making it my personal mission to try and get Toki to do stupidly cute things in every chapter if I can XD Thank you so much my friend! P.S. I don't know if the info I sent helped or not but I feel like I may have gotten a little over zealous when I wrote it. I was just so honored that you asked because no one has ever asked me anything like that before. Anyway, thanks a ton! XD**


	6. Chapter 6

**The Changeling Effect**

"Do you, uh..." My shoulders hunched and I made a small spinning motion with my finger indicating I wanted the Yautja to turn around. "...mind?"

The visors were dark, and after hours of being able to see his eyes, I found the sharp curvatures and deeply scarred expressionless mask disconcerting. He was watching me from the console, crouched at its edge, and appeared relaxed despite the fact that Toki kept trying to get a rise out of him by mock charging him. From just my observation of this particular Yautja, I was betting he recognized posturing behavior very well and understood that the little mischief maker wasn't a threat and ignored him.

The Yautja cocked his head at my words, and immediately, I felt that he was playing dumb. _Why would he do that?_ I frowned. I couldn't prove it, after all, it was just a feeling. Besides, there was no reason for him to pretend to be ignorant.

 _He's not Daiki, Usagi._

Daiki the second eldest of my two brothers relished mind games. I loved my brother dearly, and I knew without a doubt he'd die for me, but the man was a bully. My cheeks puffed in annoyance, not so much at the Yautja, but at the recollection of some of Daiki's meanest pranks.

Sighing, I settled for throwing a sheet over my head. Not the most convenient way to change clothes but the habitat wasn't built for privacy beyond keeping what belonged outside, outside. During the building process, I doubt the engineers ever imagined it would have to withstand molten glass storms, but someone had decided to shield it against falls through an atmosphere. Probably because most vessels traveling this far out in space were too big to break through atmospheres and a coordinated drop was easier than shuttling the hab down. Anyway, my quarters, or _nest_ as I called it, consisted of nothing more than a tatami mat and a heap of blankets I currently sat in. And the nest was situated in a small alcove five feet away from the main console. When living in a cramped space, there were advantages to being a tiny woman, but at the moment, I think I would've given my left artificial limb for a simple curtain.

" _... phenomenon... Changeling Effect..._ "

Hearing the playback of my voice, I paused in the processes of unzipping my skin suit and shivered. I strongly disliked those recordings. It was such an impersonal way of communication that I found myself feeling a little crestfallen whenever he used it. His enunciation needed work, but I much preferred the craggy sound of his voice to a machine that simply fed words back. Moreover, I liked it when he said my name. A name begins to feel empty and meaningless with no one around to say it for such a lengthy period, much less hear it from anyone else other than yourself.

"Right," I shook my head and continued the painstaking task of removing my clothes without accidentally pulling off the sheet or touching my tender wounds. "So the effects aren't instantaneous. My food stores ran out-" My words broke off with a sudden yawn. I mumbled an apology somewhere in there and continued, "-after three years, and I began eating a small selection of fruit I observed the herbivores feeding on. It took the better part of a decade to notice the subtle changes, the most notable being my ability to breathe without a helmet. While Alice's atmosphere is oxygen rich, it also contains a higher concentration of argon than say Earth's atmosphere. Argon is non-toxic, but it's thirty-eight percent denser than air and poses a real problem because it can deprive the body of oxygen and..."

"Us _aaa_ gi..."

Hearing my name caught me off guard, and I surfaced from the sheet like a diver who's been submerged under water for too long. The Yautja wasn't on the console, I glanced up at the shelf above, but he wasn't there either.

Toki's aggravated chittering brought my gaze down to the floor where I found him, and the Yautja, standing directly in front of me. I jumped in response, and the Yautja gave a single bark of amusement. A vaguely human sound only deeper and raspier with the same disturbing impact of a hyena's laughing bark. And it struck me then that he _had_ been playing dumb earlier.

 _Stars, he's teasing me..._

Heat crept up my neck, and I gasped, "You're teasing me! Aren't you?!"

The Yautja said nothing but he seemed a little preoccupied with Toki nudging his shoulder and snorting at him. He placed a hand on the little raptors neck and pushed him away with a grunt. Toki, being a few inches taller tried to throw his weight into the Yautja, but the other predator wasn't having it and forcefully pushed Toki away again, this time with an unmistakable warning snarl. Toki squeaked unhappily but gave the Yautja some space.

"Toki."

The little mischief maker cocked his head at me. I pinched my thumb and two fingers together and touched them lightly to my lips. He cocked his head the other way and chittered, recognizing the sign. With a squeak, Toki darted away.

"There," I said with a half-hearted giggle, "that'll keep him busy for a short time."

"Us _aaa_ gi..."

I blinked blearily at the Yautja.

"... _effect_..." He played the single word of the recording back.

"Right," I rubbed my eyes with the heel of my palm. "Sorry, anyway the mutations evolve on a much faster scale than naturally occurring evolution. After two years of eating the plant life on this planet, I began to notice I could go short stints of time without my helmet. Of course, I found this out completely by accident when the faceplate cracked, and I was..."

"Us _aaa_ gi!"

"Oh, right, right, again sorry. Rambling. So additionally, last year I realized I was no longer aging properly either." My brow puckered in thought, "Of course, your physiology is vastly different from mine so eating the local plant and animal life may not affect you in the same way or at all. In any case, I do believe it's best to err on the side of caution. Because now that my lungs have become accustomed to the higher oxygen and argon content of this planet, I'm not entirely sure I could survive off of it without the aid of a breathing apparatus of some kind."

I waited a beat, attempting to gauge his response. Once again his eyes were visible through the mask, and they narrowed in a contemplative way.

"I'm assuming your ship is still functional is it not?"

At the mention of his ship, the Yautja looked up at me sharply, and I took that as confirmation. I'd been working under the assumption this whole time that it did, but it was nice to know for sure that he had a way off this planet.

"We need to retrieve your water and food reserves."

The Yautja didn't say anything, but the slight tension in his shoulders suggested he strongly opposed the idea of taking me to his ship.

"Look," I yawned into my hand and settled down into the nest of blankets, "we have four days and a couple of hours till the zenith, and it might take me that long to reverse this." I propped myself up an elbow and tried my best to sound reassuring. "I give you my word I won't do anything exploitative or deceitful. In fact, once we get there I'll remain outside if you wish. But in your current, um..." I waved a hand up and down, trying to point out his new size without calling it a handicap. "... predicament and recalling the events when you fell vict- prey to the ill effects of the crown lily, I think it might be best if I tag along."

The Yautja chuffed, and the crossing of his arms implied he didn't appreciate the reminder of how he'd lost control of himself.

"I know you probably don't need my help..." I mumbled, staring down at the folds of the sheet and picking at invisible threads. "...b-but I want too, and I can help guide you through the wilds of this planet."

What I didn't want to admit was that the thought of him leaving was somewhat upsetting. It had been a long time since I last talked to a being who could... er, well, talk back seemed kind of a stretch since he didn't say much, but the sentiment was the same.

Tentatively I met his eyes, but before I could glean anything, Toki gave a loud chirp and hurried towards the alcove. His claws punctuated his hopping gate with sharp click, click, clicks against the metal floor. The little raptor paused briefly beside the Yautja, his nostrils flaring as he breathed hard around a mouthful of a large pinkish oval shaped berry. He sniffed at the Yautja, then dismissed him with a snort and scampered over to me and deftly leaped onto my shoulder. With the way I was laying, his claws dug uncomfortably into my skin as he slid down into the crook of my neck. The little raptor squeaked at me, rubbing his face on my cheek, attempting to feed me. I decided to play ornery and turned my head away. Toki chirped demandingly, his scales rustling in agitation.

I peeked at him from the corner of my eye. His head twitched up, and his sunfire eyes narrowed with another demanding chirp.

"Alright, bossy britches," I snickered and took the fruit he'd scrounged for me and ate it. The berry, other wise known as the pixie berry, was one of the few native fruits I thoroughly enjoyed. It had an almost cotton candy sweetness to it with the fizziness of a carbonated beverage. What's more, it had the same effect as a glass of warm milk, and I could no longer support the weight of my head.

I laid down, barely aware of the way Toki's claws dug into my skin to maintain his balance. The little raptor hopped down behind me, curled up in my hair and rested his head on my neck.

I yawned and tried to focus on the Yautja, but my eyelids just kept slipping closed. "You know, true night only lasts two hours on this planet. Once the dual suns-" A yawn snuck up on me. "-excuse me, once they breach the horizon we can set out in search of your ship. So you might want to catch some sleep while you can... the body needs proper rest... can't function wel..."

My eyes cracked open, I could feel him staring at me. I found his fuzzy outline and mumbled something that had been bothering me, "What's your name?"

Sleep finally took a firm hold and my eyes closed of their own accord but I thought maybe, just maybe I heard him snort, and I smiled...

...

 _Dreams are a window into our unconscious this is what Sigmund Freud believed. However, the debate of their purpose has waged for centuries with numerous theories surrounding them. For me, I believe, the answer is several theories twined together. While we sleep, our brains try to make sense of the data and outside stimuli we experience awake. The imagery it then subjects us to can be fantasy, our darkest secrets, the stresses of life, our fears, etc._

 _When I dream, it is usually the hauntings of my past. My mind still trying to make sense of it all but this time was different, this time there was a light in that deep dark recess. The Xenomorphs that always accompanied that darkness chittered angrily at this light. The light grew painfully bright- violently bright. The Xenomorphs burst into black smoke and then they were swept away by a sudden fierce wind._

 _I closed my eyes and curled up on the ground, riding out the hurricane but as quickly as it began it stopped. Something moved beneath me, my eyes popped open at the sensation of falling and I clutched Toki's neck._

 _"Toki?..."_

 _My little raptor was no longer little; he was seven feet tall_ _and strong enough to carry me with ease upon his back. Toki tilted his two-foot long snout full of razor sharp teeth in my direction with a reptilian snorty chuff. I blinked at him, then looked past him and found us standing on a snow capped peak... no, it wasn't snow, it was a field of crown lilies, thousands of them. The tips of their star-shaped petals edged with gold. It was beautiful. But I didn't understand how we were standing in this field with the flowers open, exposed to the perfumy miasma of their pollen without-_

 _The soft tinkling of a bell touched my ears, and I..._

...

The incongruous dream evaporated, and reality smacked me in the face in the form of Toki's tail. I swiped at my face only half awake and groaned plaintively and tried to settle back down. Toki's tail _whapped_ my forehead, and I yanked myself up on an elbow and rubbed my eyes with the heel of my hand.

Sluggishly, my eyes opened and closed, fighting the brightness of the hab lights. I should've dimmed them before bed, but the startling brilliance was almost as good as a cup of coffee which I ran out of several years ago. The rush of adrenaline the caffeine ignites is comparable to falling in love. O _r so I've been told._ I've never been in love, so I have no comparison to draw my own conclusion. But in _both_ cases, according to several studies, adrenaline and dopamine elevate our heartbeats and our moods. I may not know what falling in love feels like, but I missed the way caffeine stirred up my brain's neural activity. As far as vices go, caffeine wasn't the worst. And maybe if I had caffeine, I wouldn't have found myself staring uncomprehendingly at the creature on the console.

Squinting, it took me several moments to figure out I was peering at a Yautja. And then it took another moment for the sudden spike in adrenaline and fear to subside when my sleep addled brain remembered _why_ there was a Yautja in the hab.

 _Well... that's one way to get the same effect as caffeine... a deeply disturbing and unpleasant way..._

Sufficient, though I wouldn't want to repeat it. I gave the Yautja a nervous finger wave and then shrank down a little when I realized how ridiculous it was to wave at all.

The Yautja sat on the edge of the console, and I was beginning to wonder if the Yautja as a species were, in fact, tree dwellers or if it was the instinctual drive to keep his head higher than mine. While I had no definitive evidence to support the former, other than the few stories that portrayed most Yautja attacking from above, I highly suspected the latter to be true based on my own experience.

Quiet squeaking and movement brought my gaze to rest on Toki, who was sprawled next to me, sleeping, and kicking the air as if he were chasing something. The little raptor's tongue lulled out his jaws, its bright yellow stripes striking against the dark purple hues of his scales. Despite the rude awakening, I smiled fondly at him.

 _What do predators dream about? Do they dream about the hunt?_ I frowned. The train of thought recalling bits of my own dream to the forefront of my mind.

 _I remember the Xenomorphs... and something about... snow?_

The memory faded, and I decided it probably wasn't anything important.

"What time is it?" I ducked my head, and beneath the console, I could see part of the window and the darkness beyond it. Meaning I hadn't even slept the full two hours of true night.

I scrubbed my face and groaned, "This is going to be a really long day." Shuffling the heap of blankets around, I fished out the tooled leather journal I'd fallen asleep with the last time and opened it to a clean page.

"I'm guessing you didn't sleep either?" I asked glancing up at the Yautja. He remained silent, his body relaxed with his left leg dangling over the side of the console, and the other bent at the knee with his right arm tossed over it and braced himself up with his left hand. Once again I was struck by the very apathetic demeanor but not fooled by it. There was something so subtle in the body language that I couldn't pinpoint it, but I instinctively recognized the aura of readiness that predators wore like a second skin.

I was becoming accustomed to his aloof behavior. The one-sided conversations didn't bother me because, unlike former colleagues I have worked with in the past, the Yautja, even though he didn't seem inclined to respond, always felt like he was listening.

"A complete solar cycle on this planet is roughly thirty-eight hours only two of which are true night," I paused and tried to gauge whether or not he understood. "One cycle," I flipped to a diagram of Alice and her dual stars in my journal and held it aloft, "is Alice's rotation."

The Yautja chuffed, and I realized I probably just called his intelligence into question and offended him.

"Sorry," I mumbled and flipped back to the previous page and continued to jot down what I'd learned about him thus far.

"You were suffering from the crown lily toxin when you... um... _stumbled_ into the hab."

He snorted, and I hid a smile. He really didn't appreciate the reminder which spoke volumes about his need for control.

I glanced between him and the page concentrating on the illustration I was drawing of him and making it a point not to miss a single detail if I could help it. In particular, the shendyt he wore was fascinating. Shendyts were the kilt-like garments worn by Egyptians. The cloth it was made from was a deep burgundy red, worn around his waist and brushed the tops of his knees. Shendyts were normally depicted on pharaohs and even deities. It was interesting that the Yautja wore such a similar garment but not surprising. It's theorized that the Egyptian military wore them because it allowed the wearer complete freedom of movement, and as a hunter, I speculated the same was true for the Yautja. The Yautja's adaptation of the shendyt, was lined with black fur at the top and tied in the front with two wide ribbons of the cloth.

"Do you know where your ship is located?"

The Yautja shifted into a crouch, tapped in a command and held up his wrist comp. A holo image appeared with no distinct pictures but there was a red blinking light."

"You have a nav point?"

He gave a slight nod of confirmation.

"I'm surprised it's still transmitting." I squinted at the pulsing red dot and realized it wasn't pulsing but fading in and out which meant the shroud was reeking havoc on the signal. I wasn't familiar with Yautja tech, or tech in general, but I was pretty sure the only way he was receiving a signal at all was by using a very low-level microwave frequency. Assuming the signal kept pinging back and forth uninterrupted we shouldn't have much trouble finding his ship, but without the full use of a radar, distance became the next question. It would be like playing the hot and cold game. "Do you know how far?"

The holo image disappeared as he pulled his arm back and growled.

My brows raised, I felt bad for him. Here was this fearsome warrior who hunted deadly prey only to be done in by a plant. It had to be a major blow to his ego.

"You know the crown lily is a highly aggressive species of flora. I imagine your mask is designed to filter out toxins in the air, but the spores of the crown lily can penetrate the dermis layer of the skin and it takes less than a nanogram to throw you into a state of intense paranoia and delusions. You had no way of knowing. No warning. Not to mention you were wounded which would allow the toxins to act faster."

The Yautja cocked his head at me, and I smiled sheepishly, not understanding why I suddenly felt the need to reassure him. "Anyway," I fixed my eyes on the journal and turned to a clean sheet, "perhaps estimating how long the toxin affected you will help us determine how far you came. When it happened to me, the effects lasted half a day, so..." I did some quick calculations in my head, taking into account the length of Alice's rotation and that he was much heavier than me before I shrank him, and made a generous guestimation. "It may have only affected you for six or seven hours. Then we have to consider your metabolic rate..." I paused and peered up at him.

For years there had only ever been rumor and speculation about the Yautja. Survivors referred to them as ferocious reptiles, but if he were cold blooded he wouldn't be able to regulate his body temperature and therefore couldn't move the way he does or be as active. Big reptiles like crocodiles could move fast but only in bursts and they couldn't maintain that speed for more than a few seconds. Cold blooded creatures are also bent legged or serpentine, hugging the ground for warmth. He wouldn't have the energy necessary to walk upright without being able to metabolize food for warmth the way mammals do.

The warm blooded body next to me fidgeted, his toe claw scratching me. "Ouch- Toki!" I whined.

The little raptor's head immediately popped up with a curious chirp.

"Oh, great, now I've lost my train of thought," I glanced at the Yautja, "what was I saying?"

" _... determining how long the toxin affected..._ "

"Right, right," I dispelled an uncomfortable shiver brought on by the recording with an impatient wave of my hand. "Anyway, I don't think it affected you more than four hours, but in that time, in your panic-" He growled. "-while under duress-" His growl deepened. "-not yourself," I paused but he didn't interrupt me that time so I continued, "you're much faster than I am and you could've run for my miles fueled by the fe- adrenaline."

The Yautja gave a sharp bark of laughter. My mouth dropped open, and my face burned hot, "You were making fun of me again weren't you?!"

Maybe it was my indignant tone or maybe it was because that was the first time I ever raised my voice at him but the Yautja abruptly stood up and... tilted his head... away? What kind of behavior was that?

The Yautja glanced back at me and said, "Taan gheh."

Now it was my turn to cock my head in confusion. "I'm sorry? I didn't mean to snap at you-"

He interrupted me with an annoyed chuff and angled his body away, gesturing impatiently towards the window.

"Ssssunr _iii_ se," he clarified in a growly voice.

"Oh!" I closed the journal and got up. Toki chittered and nipped at my exposed artificial limb, and I pulled my foot away at the uncomfortable sensation the haptic feedback caused. I don't feel physical pain in my artificial legs, but the neural link interprets sensations from outside stimuli in a similar manner. So getting nipped was still unpleasant.

I leaned down and picked up the little mischief maker, who promptly scurried up to my shoulder, and joined the Yuatja at the console.

Arms of pink, yellow, and orange stretched across the sky brightening the Red Queen's Shroud to a soft crimson color which then made it appear we were looking at the landscape through rose tinted glasses. The shroud's influence would wear off as the day wore on but it was still a sight to behold every time I looked upon it.

"It's pretty..." I glanced down at the Yautja, "Isn't it. I've surveyed dozens of planets with my father growing up," my eyes went to the window, "but none of them come close to Alice's beauty." Then, in a detached tone, I added, "My father would've loved this place."

I felt the Yautja's gaze on me, but for the first time, the feeling didn't bother me.

Toki hopped down from my shoulder and broke the spell with boisterous squeaking. Slowly, he circled the Yautja, the Yautja snorted and idly kept an eye on the little raptor. Toki lowered his body, legs coiling, I realized what was happening but too late to do anything. Toki, ready to spring, froze as the Yautja's head snapped in his direction and caught his eye. The Yautja growled, Toki snarled, and I felt a headache coming on.

"Okay," I placed a hand in front of Toki, "time out."

With a sharp squawk, Toki straightened and stared at the Yautja unhappily.

"What do you mean he started it? You started it, Toki!"

Toki shook himself, his scales ruffling and squeaked at me.

"We don't have time for this Toki we need to..." A flaw in the breakdown presented itself, and I fell silent. How could I overlook such an obvious factor? "Um... do you know _when_ you came into contact with the lilies?"

To my surprise, he nodded and pointed to the stars rising in the North. The Yautja faced me fully, tapped his wrist-comp and brought up an image of what I suspect was Alice's binary stars, he then held one arm up vertically and the other, the one with the stars, horizontal to it. Using the holograms he made an obvious movement of sunrise and sunset.

"You're trying to show me when you came into contact with the lilies by showing me where the stars were at in the sky."

"Sei-i," he said with a sharp nod.

 _Seaii?_ I mentally cataloged the new word for later.

The arm indicating the placement of the path of the stars until it was open at an angle of roughly one hundred and forty degrees.

My lips pinched together in thought, again I was having to guesstimate, and I hated doing that. I needed more information.

"What about when you crashed?"

His arm moved back by another twenty degrees.

"So you crashed after the stars were up but not high in the sky and came across the lilies soon after."

The image disappeared, and he lowered his arm with a grunt and a nod.

I chewed my lower lip. The exact time and distance no longer mattered because the placement of the stars had indicated both incidents happened early in the morning. The Yautja (at the time) was big and fast, er, well... _faster_. The journey to his ship would be difficult and lengthier in his current state. Not to mention if I went along, I would considerably alter the time table and not in a favorable way. Even when my prosthetics are fully functional, I am slow, and then there is the omnipresent possibility that they will malfunction. It meant there was a high probability that we would not make it there and back before nightfall.

 _Oh... crapdoodle..._

* * *

 **A/N: Hi, hi, everyone! Hope you all enjoyed chapter 6! Thanks for hitting those favs and follow buttons! And thank you so much for the reviews! By the way, I just published two new stories. _Dances With Werewolves_ is based in the Yautja/Xeno verse. And if any of you happen to Mass Effect fans, I just posted the first chapter of _Point of No Return._**

 **Guest reviewers: G1~ Thank you so much! I will write more soon :) G2~ Who knows? *wink wink* You'll have to read and find out XD Thanx for the love!**

 **angel897: Awe, thanx! XD**

 **Luna Silvereyes: Lol, Killer iPad! Ahhh! Hahaha! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thanx for the compliment! :)**

 **KTCameleon: Thank you, KT! :D**

 **xXWhoWantsToKnowXx: Ah thank you so much for the compliment. Your review had me grinning from ear to ear. :)**

 **KittyKatt25: *shrugs* Who knows? You'll have to read and find out ;D Thank you!**

 **CieloDistante: Lol, you always ask the right questions and almost right before I answer them ;D I hope the explanation of the Changeling Effect answered some of those questions. The Yautja I have created is a very proficient and calculating hunter. He's older so he's far more patient than the YoungBloods. In the graphic novels, a lot of the older Yautja are portrayed this way. To the Yautja, I think the scars and the trophies they collect is the most important thing. One Yautja might be more athletic and stronger than another but who ever has the bigger trophy gains the most honor. No matter if they are strategists or aggressive frontal assault fighters if a Yuatja doesn't learn to move well while young they will die. Lol, P.S. it's totally fine. I'm glad I could help. :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Ramifications of Fear**

Seven miles, that was the safe zone. I have never gone more than seven miles in any given direction of the hab in fear of not making it back before dark. Why did I even think it would be easy? I never heard the entry of his ship, nor the crash but for some reason, I assumed it would be within the point of safe return radius. Here we were safe. My habitat lied smack dab in the middle of Toki's territory, so I never had to worry about the unknown. Everything beyond that point was uncharted and undiscovered wilderness.

I've always wanted to venture further, to study and research what other secrets Alice held but never dared. Not alone. And definitely, not after nightfall. I found comfort from the artificial lights of the hab, but it is within the territory of Toki's pack that I found safety. And who is to say that beyond that point of safe return are predators I have not yet encountered. Studying predators is my job, but you don't venture into an unknown potentially dangerous animal's territory without safeguards in place. You wouldn't go traipsing through the dense rainforests of Brazil or the Savannah desert without an alt-vehicle of some kind or a weapon, of which, I had neither. So why risk it here, on a planet that can change from hospitable to inhospitable for no apparent reason at all?

My eyes darted to the Yautja then quickly away. I tried very hard to ignore him but the uncomfortable persistent itch on the back of my neck his weighted gaze caused felt like I was breaking out in hives.

"I-I," I swallowed hard, "changed my mind."

The sharp clicking of his teeth punctuated the air and sent a wave of painful pins and needles shooting up my spine.

"But it'll be dark before we can get back!"

His gaze focused on the side of my face with the intensity of a laser beam making it impossible to dodge.

I glanced at him then away. Glanced at him, then away again. Each time, the shame burning my cheeks grew a little hotter until finally, the Yautja lost his patience.

"Ki'cte!" he barked.

Startled by his anger, I froze and stared at him in alarm.

The Yautja looked me up and down with a critical eye and whatever he saw caused him to deflate with a sigh, and in the same beat he took a breath and straightened.

"Ki'cte, Us _aaa_ gi."

My brow furrowed, he sounded curiously calmer. His posture confident instead of angry, his presence commanding, and his poison green eyes, though still Arctic cold, were strangely determined. I didn't understand what he said, but I got the gist of it from his demeanor. The tension in my muscles uncoiled, and I turned towards him obediently like a chastised child seeking the approval of a parent.

"M-di h'dlak. Ell-osde dste dek-tna de lar'ja."

I blinked at him, unsure what to say but the Yautja wasn't stupid; he knew I wouldn't be able to comprehend the words in his tongue.

"N _a_ fe _ar_. Uo f _a_ ccce de d _a_ rK."

My heart _thumped_ hard at his words, and yet as scared as I was by their meaning, I also felt this strange sort of calm steal over me. Even, though, the words had been broken, the Yautja had spoken in English. He didn't have to do that, but he wanted me to understand him and the fact that he made the effort on my behest filled my chest with an odd warmth.

We stared at one another unblinking, and in a detached part of my brain, I marveled at how he allowed me to do such a thing while at the same time I made a conscious attempt to stand a little straighter. I held my head a little higher. The Yautja puffed out his chest with a grunt and a sharp nod of approval, and I felt the warmth in my chest spread.

I took a deep breath, "... o-okay..."

...

"Okay? Okay?! Why on Earth did I say okay?!" I demanded of myself in a harsh whisper.

 _It was a compulsive response! You were reacting to the euphoria!_

"Ridiculous!" Aside from my father, I have never sought validation from anyone. Yet, this Yautja incited a spontaneous shift in my behavior after only spending less than one solar cycle with him.

"But why? Surely, you're not becoming attached, Usagi?" I stopped pacing, unaware that I'd been doing so at all, and glanced at the Yautja. He stared right back, the black tendrils of his hair falling over the segmented armor of his left shoulder as he cocked his head.

 _Why are only the left shoulder and upper chest protected by metal plates?_

My brow puckered in thought, my mind jumping at the chance to think of anything else. Aside from the shendyt, his gauntlet, and the shoulder armor and rig, the Yautja wore very little else. His calves were moderately protected by metal plates, but his clawed feet were exposed, and for the first time I noted the Yautja had dewclaws. A well-placed kick with that dagger like appendage could rip open the belly of an opponent. Perhaps, the reason the Yautja wore less protection was to simply even the odds or increase the thrill of danger.

"I doubt they hunt Xenomorphs for meat. So perhaps the Yautja are prestige hunters." From a discarded crate, half-buried under a blanket I fished out my rucksack and checked its contents. My last outing had been a few days ago, and I needed to resupply. Of course, this journey would require substantial provisions, and it made me even more uneasy than I already was. "It coincides with my original hypothesis about the possible tribal practices of the Yautja and the metal bands adorning your..." I froze mid-stride and felt the sting of rampant prickling running from my toes all the way to my scalp.

 _Was I... was I just talking to the Yautja out loud about the probable customs of a Yautja?_

Legs stiff with either mortification or perhaps they were just malfunctioning again, I did an awkward about face and fell over my own feet when my eyes briefly caught his.

"Whoa- _oof_ ," I landed hard on my butt and somehow got my feet tangled in the straps of the rucksack. The Yautja made a trilling noise that somehow managed to sound both curious and annoyed, although that could be paranoia on my part. But the heat burning my cheeks was decidedly mortification.

"S-sorry, I, uh- I have to pee!" Why did I announce that?! My face was scalding hot now, causing beads of sweat to sprout at my hairline.

I kicked the rucksack straps off- _my stars_ , it was like untangling myself from a fishing net! Eyes firmly planted on the floor, I got up and ran for the closet sized washroom and didn't look up until the door closed behind me with a subtle swish of air.

 _For the love of Pluto and all the constellations-_ My eyes snapped up to meet my angry tomato red complexion in the tiny mirror. "-what the hel- heck- no, no, hell! What the _hell_ is wrong with me?!"

And then another embarrassing realization dumped the proverbial salt in the wound.

 _Why didn't I just change clothes in here?!_

"Stupid, Usagi," I glared at the girl in the mirror. _Girl,_ not woman. My cheeks still held some of the baby fat of a prepubescent child, and my eyes were a little too round. Unlike my brothers, who got their tall, masculine builds and blond hair from my Germanic father's side. I took after my mother's side. Hana, my mother, was of Japanese descent and like her, I had long straight black hair, a petite form, and soft features. However, unlike my mother, I didn't have the power to command respect with my mere presence. Authoritative and strong, she was everything I was not, which is partially why when my parents separated she did not fight to take me with her as she did my brothers.

 _Why can't I just be normal? Why do I have to be so awkward and weird?_

Even before the crash, I was never good with conversing with others. Twelves years is a long time to go without the connection of another living person, and it only caused those shameful traits to become more prominent.

Was I socially inept? I couldn't talk to the Yautja the way I wanted to and fell into bad habits of talking as if he weren't a person or in the room at all. This would be so much easier if he wasn't sentient.

Sighing, I quickly went about doing normal things in a washroom instead of just hiding. After a quick shower, and the brushing of my teeth, I twirled a couple of pencils in my hair in lieu of chopsticks, and with my long main out of my face I paused and took notice of my forehead.

"Oh," I touched the cut on my forehead, surprised to note there was only a light yellowish bruising. The kind of color it would've turned had it healed over the course of several days, but it had only been roughly thirty-six hours. Even with the assisted help of the CR-gel, I shouldn't see this sort of discoloring yet. And the cut... the cut was nearly closed.

Despite my klutzy nature and the malfunctions of my artificial limbs, I rarely ever got seriously injured. Bumps, bruises, sure, but nothing severe enough that I could observe some of my other suspicions about Alice's overall effect on my physiology.

Curious, I dropped the towel and stretched up on tiptoes to get a good look at the burn on my side as I peeled off the damp gauze. My brows shot up in surprised dismay. The wound was already scarring, turning a shiny dull red and the skin smooth.

 _What does this mean?_

For the first time, I considered the radical ramifications of my prolonged exposure to this planet. Fear pushes people to do stupid things and damn the consequences. In 2187 my papa went missing after returning to Earth to study Xenomorphs, hoping that by understanding them he could help save the rest of humanity from the devastating infestation of apocalyptic proportions. For this study, he left me on Titan, Saturns largest moon and one of humanities only flourishing settlements. When word reached me that he'd gone missing, I went looking for him.

My fists clenched. Love holds the same power as fear, giving us the strength to do the impossible. If it weren't for the fear and the love of my papa, I would've never willingly gone into the heart of Xenomorph territory to look for him. I'd been prepared -or so I thought-, had a small squad of marines armed to the teeth, but what we found was not what we'd expected...

I gripped the edge of the tiny metal sink, the undertow of my memory sucking me deep beneath its cold slashing waves. We didn't find my papa, but his killers found us. Fanatics. Worshipers of the _Dark Mother_ overwhelmed us, took our weapons then slaughter the _unworthy,_ and took the remaining few of us as offerings to the Dark Mother.

The memory of the pain greyed my vision and my legs crumpled beneath me. The icy metal floor bit into my cheek, my gasping breaths echoing loudly in the confined space. My papa may have been killed by Xenomorphs, but it had been humans who murdered him. And if not for a drainage pipe and my small size, I would be dead too. But before my escape, the Xenomorphs had taken my legs and if not for a close friend of my papa's who managed to rescue me, I would've died from either shock or blood loss in a matter of minutes.

After that, it all gets a little hazy. I woke up alone in an unsterile makeshift hospital. My papa was gone. My legs were gone. Instead of facing what had happened, instead of seeking out my brothers, I ran. I commandeered my papa's ship, and I ran. I set no course, hoping to drift forever asleep only to crash two years later on Alice. And because of my fear, I may have damned myself.

Rustling and scratching brought my head up.

 _Why am I on the floor?_

Toki squeaked plaintively from the other side, his claws making ear-splitting _scritch_ noises against the metal.

 _"... faaace de darK..."_

The Yuatja's words flitted through my head, and I managed to collect myself enough to remember what was important. I couldn't do anything about the past. What really mattered right now was helping the Yuatja get off this planet before it condemned him too. Thinking about his strength gave me resolve. The Yautja didn't let the absurdity of getting shrunk scare him, something that would've easily turned me into a gibbering hysterical mess. Why couldn't I be strong like that?

Before I knew it, my feet were under me, and I was standing.

"It's okay, Toki," I glanced at myself in the mirror and forced my chin a little higher. I didn't want the Yautja to know I'd just been on the floor balled in a fetal position. Because for some absurd reason I didn't want to disappoint him.

...

I'd lost a little too much time in the washroom, and so I frantically moved about the hab as if I were on a mission. I was, but the constant motion kept my brain focused on the task at hand instead of fretting about what I was about to do.

"Water," I stuffed a canteen in my rucksack, along with dried fruit rations. "How much should I take?"

The anxiety buzzed like a thousand bees inside my head. I didn't know how long we would be gone I just knew how much time we had and thinking about it only angered the bees. Shaking my head, I stuffed two more small portions in the rucksack and tried not to think about it.

With deliberate intent, I began to babble because I knew it would distract me.

"Sample bags and boxes," I dumped a few in the rucksack. "Journal, pencils, flashlight with wrist strap," I paused and glanced at the Yautja, "should I pack a bed roll?"

The Yautja cocked his head at me. I think I genuinely confused him with that question. The Yautja probably had no intention of stopping once we were out the door.

"Nevermind," I waved the question away and grabbed a blanket then stuffed everything into the rucksack. A blanket would suffice. Even if we were forced to bed down for a night, I wouldn't be doing much sleeping.

Toki's incessant squeaking drew my attention, and I smiled appreciatively at the sight of the little raptor dragging my walking staff towards me. I met him halfway and picked up the staff.

"Thanks for looking out for me, Toki," I scratched the back of his head around the auditory meatus. Toki made a contented sound, his eyes closing in bliss. I giggled. And when I pulled away, the little raptor squeaked in protest.

"Dtai'k?"

"Huh?" I twisted in my already crouched position and found myself eye level with the Yautja. "I-I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"'eaP _on_ ," his hand gripped the hilt of a blade at his back for emphasis.

"Oh!" My face pinched in thought, "Ummmm," I ducked my eyes sheepishly, "you?"

The Yautja gave a sharp bark of laughter. A flush climbed up my neck and into my hairline, my skin was burning so hot. I swear waves of heat rolled off my cheeks.

The Yautja eyed my abashed face and sobered somewhat, although, his chest was still rumbling pleasantly. He must've realized I hadn't meant it as a joke but instead of getting mad he seemed weirdly amused.

"'Ow tiny ooman _sss_ urvive?"

 _Tiny?_

"I survived by staying in Toki's territory and-" I got up and grabbed a copper bell the size of a thimble out of a drawer. "-this is the only weapon I've ever needed."

The Yautja balked at this his green eyes narrowing as if he suspected me of lying.

"Trust me," I placed the bell in the outside pocket of the rucksack, "it'll come in handy."

He snorted dismissively, but the hard glint in his eyes suggested he still doubted my words.

Strangely, I felt somewhat affronted by his distrust, but at the same time, I understood how something so small and fragile could cultivate such little confidence. Here was a predator who purposely hunted with primitive tech and raw strength while, I, on the other hand, offered a mere trinket.

"M-di dtai'k..." he mused.

I blinked at him, but he wasn't really looking at me.

"No ' _ea_ Pon," he said. Our eyes met, and I exhaled a small breath of relief. The doubt was gone and in its place was that same determination I'd seen earlier. "It noT ' _ea_ Pon et matter. De ' _iel_ der. De ' _ie_ lder et matters."

 _The 'ielder? Oh, he means wielder. Duh, Usagi. The weapon isn't what matters. It's the wielder..._

His words warmed my chest, and I looked away before I started blushing. We stared out the window, looking passed the valley below the cliff face to the wilderness beyond.

"Is it too late to change my mind?" I smiled to show I was teasing, but truthfully, I was half serious. Stepping outside the safe zone still really scared me.

He snorted, "'Eeko, Usss _a_ gi."

I hid a smirk. He was getting better at saying my name but words with W and sometimes G still gave him trouble because I'm pretty sure he meant "We go". But I was starting to like his poor enunciations, I found them oddly cute. Not that I would ever have the courage to admit it out loud...

...

The hue of the translucent grass-like vegetation beneath my boots changed from a soft purple to a venomous yellow with every step. It made the term "game trail" glaringly obvious to any predator with eyes. Luckily, the only predators around at the moment was Toki and his pack, and of course, the Yuatja.

Two sentinel raptors converged on us, an angry growl in their chests. I stopped because I'd been through this many times before. However, the Yautja had not, and he put himself between me and the approaching raptors. An unnecessary but understandable instinctual reflex.

 _Huh... his first instinctual reaction is to protect me?_ I gave myself a mental shake when I realized the thought made me happy. _Of course, he's protecting you, Usagi. You're the only one who might be able to change him back._

Toki ran out ahead of us and stopped the two charging animals with a snarl. I still had no idea why Toki had taken such a shine to me, but I was interminably grateful that he had. After a tense moment of sniffing and posturing, the sentinel raptors greeted Toki with excited chittering, shoving one another playfully. Toki stretched out his neck and gave a sharp hooting call.

I glanced down at the Yautja, "I hope you like ba-" I slipped in the dewy vegetation, my hands and knees crushing the glassy grass. It instantly yellowed, and I felt weirdly guilty. "Sorry, sorry," I muttered under my breath.

The Yautja either snorted or sighed at my clumsiness. Maybe a mix of both, but it was hard to tell over the chorus of answering squeaks.

"As I was saying, I hope like-" Again my words were cut off, but this time it was because a swarm of squeaking baby raptors burst from the grass and focused their excitement on the biggest target. Me.

* * *

 **A/N: 'Ello my chums! Hope you all enjoyed the update XD Thanx for the favs, follows, and reviews! Yautja terms and definitions at the bottom. FYI, I also updated 'Dances With Werewolves' today too. For those of you who aren't aware of it, it's also based in the Yautja/Alien universe.**

 **Tenfangirl: Happy, happy, you enjoyed it XD *sends hug* Thanx for the love!**

 **Haylz93: Lol, thanx! I adore Toki too! Hope this chapter explained more ;)**

 **angel897: Awe, thank you! :)**

 **Anonymous reviewer: I will write more soon :)**

 **Luna Silvereyes: Lol, I love it! I just had to do it. The Big Bad done it by a plant! Haha XD Awe thanx for the compliment! You alway make me smile :)**

 **CieloDistante: Lol, nah, his name doesn't have anything to do with snow. But I know the future, and how she learns his name and I can't wait to share it with you! I've read some males will favor a certain female and only seek to mate with her during each season. But how many offspring they have is dependant on their prowess. Females will only want to mate with the strongest, after all. ;) If he isn't strong then it's unlikely he will father many offspring. Lol, I bet baby Yautja are cute. I doubt it would be considered degrading because the "cute" factor is one of evolutions way of making sure adults take care of their young. Thanx for the love my friend :)**

 **XxWhoWantsToKnowXx: I want one too! Haha! And omg, I can't wait to see his reaction to a full sized Yautja either! He'll probably act the same way little dogs with big attitudes do XD**

 **Terms: (Keep in mind not all terms are canon.)**

 **"Ki'cte"~ Enough**

 **"M-di h'dlak. Ell-osde dste dek-tna de lar'ja." ~ No fear. You must face the dark.**

 **"Dtai'k" ~ Weapon**

 **"M-di dtai'k" ~ No weapon**


	8. Chapter 8

**Unknown Factor**

"Do the Yautja have lullabies?" We were walking through a wildflower lea and the waves of blooming admiral blue Beethovens, played a dreamy melody with every breath of the wind and as their bell-shaped blossoms bounced off my legs. Musically inclined flowers, huh, I wonder where I've read that one before. Despite my abhorrence for Alice in Wonderland, hearing those beautiful piano-esque notes brought back the fondest memories of my brother, Takahiro, who was the only one in our family not completely tone deaf and able to carry a tune.

"... _lullabies_..."

Was it selfish of me to wish that that infernal recording device would spontaneously combust? It didn't make my hair stand on end anymore, but it was still disconcerting. Which, now that I think about it, that was probably one of its purposes beyond communication. What better way to throw your adversary off-kilter than by freaking them out.

"You don't know what a lullaby is or the word isn't translating?" I glanced down at him questioningly and found myself smothering an absurd giggle as this terrifying hunter tromped his way through the almost head high flowers (to him) as if they were a dense rainforest. The Beethovens were knee height to me, and only Toki's hopping gate made him visible...

I stopped walking. The flowers were knee height... and I couldn't see Toki unless he was jumping, but I could clearly see T2.

 _Is he... is he taller?_

The Yautja- er, T2, paused and turned to look at me. Noticing my consternation he walked back and stood in front of me, his head cocked curiously to the side.

"Us _aa_ gi," he calmly rumbled after the silence had stretched for too long. Most people would've just yelled at me, but it appeared as though he'd gotten used to me getting lost in thought and knew exactly how to draw me out.

"Hold still."

He chuffed at my words. However, he humored me and didn't move as I crouched beside him. He tensed somewhat at my nearness, but I dismissed it as a natural reaction to the invasion of his space.

"Toki," I called.

The little raptor's head popped up out of the flowers a few feet away with a curious chirp.

"Come here."

With a chitter, Toki made his way back to us, the flowers barely moving as he ran through them. His head popped out between a bunch of tiny white flowers and chittered in annoyance as the viney stalks got tangled around his neck. Growling, he bit and tugged at the stalks, tearing them away with ease, then promptly came to stand at attention in front of me and beside the Yuatja.

"My stars," I gasped raising a hand and measuring their head heights. "You are taller! You're taller than Toki now!"

Toki seemed to balk at this, fluffing his scales and giving the Yautja a dubious sniff as he sized him up. T2 half turned towards the raptor and straightened. Toki did the same and stretched out his neck, but T2 was still taller.

"Fascinating," I mused.

Toki snorted.

 _Is the effect wearing off on its own or is there some factor I didn't account for? Moreover, when did it occur?_

I mulled the thoughts over in my mind. Our journey had only just begun, and we were now eight kilometers from the hab, so perhaps maybe it had something to do with the habitats environment? No, that didn't make sense. The habitat's primary function had been a lab, a protected space for experimentation and observation. However, the habs contagion and biohazard air scrubbers had stopped operating long ago so its protection was limited to serving as a shelter. Of course, without it, I would be at the mercy of Alice's, frightfully bizarre elements.

 _Four days until the zenith, I wonder if that would be enough time for the effects to completely wear off on their own..._

A tantalizing thought but I knew it was the fear talking. Then again, I think a small part of me wanted to mess this up, wanted to force him to stay. I couldn't risk T2's safety and future because I was hung up on an errant desire not to end up alone again. Of course, that is, assuming he didn't kill me to protect the secrets of the Yautja that I have learned.

"Eeko, Us _aa_ gi."

T2's voice brought me out of my head with a confused start. "Huh?" I blinked and looked around, only to find T2 and Toki had both run several yards ahead of me.

"Wait!" I stood, my thighs stiff from the prolonged crouch. "Guys wait up!" The heavy rucksack shifted awkwardly in my haste nearly tipping me over. T2 and Toki disappeared beyond the crest of the hill, and I trundled clumsily after them.

...

"... they remind me of dwarf hippos, only smaller." We huddled- er, well, I huddled behind the silver poles of a Skyscraper tree, it's thin assorted trunks ranging anywhere from three-hundred and ninety feet to well over four-hundred feet. Taller than the extinct redwoods of Earth. Silently, we watched the matriarch of Toki's pack taking the chicks on one of their first hunts. It was an honor and a thrill to be permitted to witness this moment in their young lives, so I readily took the opportunity to study them for a few minutes. I knew we were short on time, but even T2 had stopped and taken an interest in the curious interaction.

Toki's species is the predominant predator on this planet or at least in this territory. A normal, healthy ecology of two to three hundred prey animals can only support one predator. And Toki's pack is thirty strong. A number rarely recorded beyond African Wild Dogs, Xenomorphs, or the temporary merging of dolphin pods which can climb to a thousand.

In order to sustain such a large predator population, there must be ample prey animals, and the raptors must kill at least once every two days. The raptors prey of choice isn't abundant but they are quite large which is why the ecology can support Toki's numerous pack.

Hands resting on my knees, I folded myself in half and got as close as I could to T2, trying not to disturb the hunting party or alert the prey, "That's the matriarch." A single female stood motionless on a rocky crest above the valley, observing her oblivious prey. The sexual dimorphism in the raptors was very prominent. Males, like Toki, had dark purple scales and a V-shaped crest running down the snout separating the twin sets of sunfire eyes. On the other hand, females, though slightly smaller, were more hunter green, and instead of a crest, they had a bony dorsal fan with similar characteristics to a stonefish. The spines weren't poisonous, but at the right angle, they could carve open the flanks of their prey.

T2 glanced up at me then at the lock of my hair that had escaped its confines only to brush his shoulder. Touching had definitely crossed the boundary line, but if it bothered him, he didn't show it, and after a second he turned to watch the matriarch. I exhaled a silent breath I hadn't known I'd been holding and ignored the urge to move away from him. That would only prove I was uncomfortable and thought I'd done something wrong.

My eyes went from the matriarch, who vanished into the underbrush, to the unsuspecting prey grazing several yards from our position. I am terrible at naming previously undiscovered species, but I'd call this one a fuzzy pigmy hippo. Roughly two feet tall, its stubby legs held up a body weighing about sixteen kilos. (Which is why the ecology could support such a large pack, and why they needed the numbers.) Covered in a soft downy fuzz, the dwarf hippo was a bright canary yellow with reddish stripes and a crown of black horns.

I searched for the hunting party to no avail. Even at a young age, the rambunctious bunch of chicks understood the urgency for silence while hunting. Because without a kill, they would go hungry.

The excitement and the nervous anticipation made me a little bouncy. I accidentally bumped T2, and he chuffed at my inability to remain still.

I think I muttered an apology, but I couldn't say for sure. My focus was everywhere else, attempting to catch a glimpse of movement. Solitary hunters only had to depend upon themselves for the success of a hunt. But coordinated hunters had to rely on each other, one excited chirp, one hasty movement and it was all over. The raptors relied on eye contact alone in order to convey position and intent. It really was a fascinating to watch, even if I couldn't see a single thing.

Stalking prey can take hours at times, though I didn't think that would be the case here. However, waiting for the explosive action was proving challenging for me for some odd reason. I've observed many predators while hunting and always managed an air of professional curiosity, so why couldn't I quell the jitters? Why did I keep glancing at T2? Was it because for once I had something no other scientist has ever had before, an actual predator to question the mechanics of a coordinated hunt? His scrutiny would provide invaluable insight.

I stared at T2, suddenly fascinated. As precious as his knowledge would be, maybe the real reason I was so excited was that I was sharing this experience with him. T2 was a Yautja, one the most feared predators in the known universe, and here I was casually observing a hunt with him. Me! Usagi!

T2's body tensed, leaning forward as if he were readying for the impending attack. The thick cords of muscle in his neck prominently stood out, and I eyed the panther-esque midnight blue patterns set against his dark grey skin and idly thought how exciting it would be to watch him hunt.

"T2..."

T2 tilted his head back slightly, eyeing me strangely from over his shoulder, and I realized it was because I'd called him T2 out loud. My face warmed, I wasn't about to tell him that the nickname meant Tiny Terror to the second power but I probably should've asked first.

"Sorry," I looked down at my bare toes. No reason to wear boots when my feet were synthetic. Well, wearing boots would be prudent, especially if I stepped in anything unsanitary but the haptic feedback was the only way for me to feel anything in my legs and I craved that sensation. "I, uh, didn't want to keep calling you _the Yautja_ ," I dug my toes into the dirt and curled my fingers into fists on my knees. Looking anywhere but at him. "It's too impersonal, too detached. Y-you're not a subject of study..."

 _You're my friend..._ I finished silently. And I felt true conviction in that statement. No one had ever even tried to do what he'd done. And even though logic insisted he was just doing it to free himself from this planet, he'd also gone out of his way to be gentle when he didn't have to because fear was equally a strong motivator.

"T-thank you," I said softly, my eyes tentatively seeking his.

He made a non-committal noise in the back of his throat, but if he'd been about to say anything it was immediately forgotten as our collective attention snapped away from one another as a high-pitched squeal rent the air. The raptors attack was indeed explosive and almost completely unseen until they lept out of the tall grass and onto the dwarf hippo's back. The squat herbivore tossed its head and stomped its feet like an irate bull, dislodging several of its attackers and launching itself into a full tilt run.

It was a mistake. The dwarf hippo stood no chance in outrunning the raptors and would only tire itself out in a matter of minutes. Two adult female raptors ran with the chicks, nipping the stubby legs of their prey, herding the animal towards an ambush.

The dwarf hippo was beginning to slow, but it saw the brush ahead and in a desperate move threw itself bodily at the raptors on its left with a honking cry. It forced the raptors to move out of the reach of its horns which gave the hippo a little space. The hippo made a final mad dash to the foliage ahead, to what it undoubtedly hoped was safety only to get within a few feet when the matriarch burst from trees and with blinding speed, ducked under the startled hippo's head and speared her preys throat with her bony frill. The calculated movement had been almost impossible to see before she got out from under its feet. The hippo staggered making nasally cries.

From start to finish, the attack had taken less than two minutes. The dwarf hippo never stood a chance. Swaying, blood soaking into its fur, the hippo fell on its side, and the whole pack converged on it and proceeded to feed. The matriarch and the other adult females stood on top of the carcass or near its belly and sliced into the meat with their powerful dew claws. I observed as some of the chicks lifted their feet and mimicked the movement. The males fed last, hanging around the perimeter of the kill and guarding the females and chicks as they gorged themselves.

"T2, do the Yautja take the juveniles on their first hunt?"

I'd heard the stories, but in my mind, that's all they were. I wanted to confirm it for myself. It would allow me to glean a little bit more information on the Yuatja social structure.

To my surprise, T2 didn't ignore me or even hesitate.

"Sei-i," he said with a sharp nod then briefly glanced at the raptors kill before continuing. "No," he paused, apparently searching for the right word and finally growled, "interf _eee_ re."

My eyes went to the matriarch and watched how she ripped open flesh, then would give chunks to waiting chicks.

"But you do train them for it right?"

"Sei-i," he rumbled.

 _So they train their young to prepare them, but unlike the raptors, they don't interfere with the actual hunt._

My brow puckered in thought, "You don't smell like the typical carnivore."

That earned me a questioning head tilt and weird fixed stare. I imagined that beneath his mask, his brows would be pulled tight in bewilderment. If he had brows, that is. Hmm, for that matter does he have lips? A beak? So many unanswered questions, so little time. I'd seen rough sketches of the Yautja without their masks, but... but I really wanted to see for myself.

 _What is under your mask, T2?_

"Er, well, I mean most carnivores have a distinctive odor which you lack. So I was just wondering if the Yautja are omnivores."

Even Toki had the sour tinged smell of a carnivore, but the raptors often played in the water, so it wasn't overpowering. But with T2, I'd noted a musky scent which reminded me of the sharp, fresh aroma of ozone when lightning strikes. I found it pleasant but strange for a predator.

T2 chuffed and shook his head as if he'd grown bored with my line of questions and started walking away. "Eeko, Us _aa_ gi."

"Wait!" I rushed to stand and trotted after him. Toki snorted, ducked his head and ran passed T2, determined to be the leader. "You're really not gonna answer my question?!"

T2's low rumbly laughter caused my cheeks to warm.

 _He's teasing me again!_

"T2," I whined. Which only made the rumblings grow louder...

* * *

 **A/N: Hi everyone hope you enjoyed the update! Sorry if there was confusion about T2's name in the beginning! Anyway, thanks for all those favs, follows, and reviews. Hopefully, next week I'll be able to post ch.2 of A Fangirl's Crack'd Afterlife. Updates on this story and others can be found on my profile page.**

 **Haylz93: Lol, I find T2's character entertaining too XD Thanx for the love!**

 **KittyKatt25: Haha XD I know! They're stinking cute!**

 **Tenfangirl: Lol, oh, yes. There is lots of love for Toki, haha. Thanx :)**

 **angel897: Thank you! Happy you enjoyed it! :)**

 **hotcat: Thank you! XD**

 **Anonymous Reviewers: Thanx for the love! :)**

 **Luna Silvereyes: Awe, thank you! I always try really hard to keep the Yautja in character even though I'm breaking a lot of rules with them. Lol, yes, baby raptors XD**

 **CieloDistante: Not sure when I'll add that side story about Toki and Usagi meeting, but I will keep it in the idea vault. ;) Lol, what did you think of the "nameless stranger's" nickname? XD And yes, there was only one Yautja on that ship. Can you imagine the mayhem if she'd shrunk three of them?! Haha XD Thank you my friend! I hope your writing is going well ;)**


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